samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Central Bank of Kuwait - Public ‫ عام‬- ‫بنك الكويت المركزي‬  -8-  In the process, they have not only attracted existing customers but also promoted financial inclusion by serving millions of otherwise unbanked customers. In the last seven years, financial inclusion in China has increased from 64% to 80%, and from 42% to 82% in Kenya, in large part due to the emergence of these now FinTech providers.13 Any of the three major challenges described – the difficult economic environment, growing role of technology or the changing customer expectations – would by itself have been a lot for the industry to address. But taken together they are leading to a perfect storm that the industry can no longer afford to ignore. 2- Shaping the Future For the banking industry to continue growing and serving its core utility, it must transform itself. But for a well-established industry that has served us for centuries, where should this journey of transformation begin? To me, it seems that banks must conquer a number of battles if they are to survive. The most crucial of these battles are: i. ii. iii. iv. v.  the battle for customer loyalty, the battle for value, the battle for efficiency, the battle for resilience, and the battle for talent. Let me discuss each of these in turn. Central Bank of Kuwait - Public ‫ عام‬- ‫بنك الكويت المركزي‬  -9-  i. Battle for Customer Loyalty The first of these battles is for customer loyalty.

According to a recent report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the future of jobs, 75 million jobs may be displaced by 2022, while 133 million new roles may emerge.15 Are we preparing our graduates for such a shift in the labor market? This is an equally pertinent question for the banking industry. According to the WEF study, 56% of bank employees will need to be re-skilled. Talent and resources in a number of functions will need to shift towards analytics, with fewer resources likely to be involved in manual work. New staff will need to be data scientists with expertise in AI, machine learning, etc. And business staff will be required to have the ability to translate such data insights into business actions. The WEF has reported that the largest barrier to embracing technology in banks, identified by 74% of financial institutions surveyed, was a lack of skill sets in the local labor market. If this is the case today, what will happen in the future? This is why the banking industry needs to build strong partnerships with educational institutions, to ensure that they are preparing the graduates the industry will require for its transformation. ii. Regulators The other key stakeholder in the banking industry’s transformative journey is the regulator. Regulatory authorities need to strike a balance between protecting consumers, establishing standards for sound regulatory and supervisory practices, safeguarding financial and monetary stability, and at the same time facilitating growth and innovation in the industry.
Lars Nyberg: It costs to pay – do we use too much cash? Speech by Mr Lars Nyberg, Deputy Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, at the Finansförbund congress, Bålsta, 28 May 2008. *  *  *  Who pays the price? When we pay for goods we have bought at the supermarket or for the hamburger we eat for lunch we rarely wonder what the actual payment costs. This applies both to when we pay by card and pay in cash. And why should we care what it costs to pay? This is not a cost we ever see. But of course it costs to pay. It uses resources in the economy. Why are there costs in cash? Well, ATMs cost money to fill. And banknotes and coins are transported around the country by cash-in-transit firms which naturally want remuneration for this. Moreover, the costs for the safety of their personnel have increased rapidly in recent years. Card payments also cost money. They require terminals in shops and other places that accept such payments. And card payments require complex computer systems, which must be maintained and developed. Credit cards also involve credit, and credit is never free of charge. If a shopkeeper pays a charge of 3 per cent to the credit card company, which is not unusual, this means an effective annual interest rate of 20 per cent in round figures, given a credit period of 30 days.

The number of banks, however, was reduced by half during that period and the number of bank employees remained stable despite expanding financial activities. These figures show that our financial industry has been eager to react swiftly to the challenges posed by globalisation. •  Switzerland has a solid balance of payments position. Thanks to a large excess of savings over domestic investment, our current account surplus is constant and substantial. Contrary to popular belief, my country is not an importer of capital, but a net capital exporter. Our current account surplus represents 14% of our GDP, a level which can only be compared to that of some Asian countries. In recent years, our surplus in absolute terms was even larger than the surplus of the euro zone as a whole. •  Switzerland is well-known for its stable monetary framework. Average inflation over the last 20 years amounted to 1.8%. We never went through monetary reforms as many European countries did in the past few decades. In fact, we still use the coins put into circulation in 1850, when the Swiss franc was created. There is no better proof of monetary stability. •  Switzerland enjoys the lowest interest rate level in Europe. This situation has nothing to do with the appeal of our bank secrecy, as many believe, but with the abundance of savings  1/3  and the high degree of price stability.
After each ILTR operation, the Bank can use the pattern of bids to help assess whether the total amount on offer needs to be changed for the next monthly operation. In addition, we decided to index the clearing spreads to the subsequent out-turn for Bank Rate, with a minimum spread of zero so that there is no interest-rate risk to the Bank of England. Finally, the Bank is also able to respond to strains in short-term foreign currency funding markets, utilising swap lines with other central banks to conduct foreign currency OMOS. For example, in September 2008, the Bank, in concert with a number of other central banks, announced coordinated measures designed to address continued elevated pressures in US dollar short-term funding markets. 9  Initially the collateral list was expanded in the Autumn of 2007 and then again in Autumn 2008. 10  Our approach to risk managing these securities has been set out in the Quarterly Bulletin. See Breeden and Whisker (2010), Quarterly Bulletin, 50, 2, pages 94–103. 11  See Bank of England (2009), Annual Report and Accounts 2009. 4  BIS Review 126/2010  The Special Liquidity Scheme During early 2008, following the collapse of Bear Stearns, and with the continued closure of the securitisation markets making mortgage-backed securities and hence mortgages substantially illiquid, it became clear that additional and exceptional liquidity support would be needed for the UK banking system.

The main entry on the liability side of the balance sheet is “central bank money”, comprising banknotes, which are supplied on demand, and the reserve accounts of commercial banks and building societies. 2 These are effectively sterling current accounts for the commercial banks – they are among the safest assets a bank can hold and are the ultimate means of payment between banks. In normal circumstances, the main entry on the asset side of the balance sheet is the Bank’s lending to those same commercial banks. 3 In setting monetary policy, our normal objective would be to lend exactly the amount of central bank money demanded, consistent with the MPC’s choice of Bank Rate. Crucially, although the targets for reserves accounts may react to the state of financial stability in the system, the Bank’s choices here are dictated by the stance of monetary policy. In normal times, we ask the banks to choose their own targets for reserve accounts and then lend just enough cash to the system as a whole so that the banks can collectively meet the aggregate of their targets. The commercial banks will then lend to, or borrow from each other in the inter-bank market, to distribute the total amount of cash around the system so that each individual institution can meet its target. Each bank is incentivised to meet its reserves target by the application of penalty rates to those who are – on average over a monthly maintenance period – either excessively short or long.
The requirements for diversification of assets would introduce stringent restrictions on the ability of the insurance companies to hold housing bonds. Representatives of the industry claimed that considerable volumes of housing bonds would be sold by the insurance companies for this reason and that this would affect the market and increase costs for borrowers sharply. The gilt-edged bonds could at least partly solve the problem since, according to the EC directive, they would not be affected so much by the rules for single-party commitment. Others were doubtful about introducing special rules for insurance companies to give them an incentive to have a larger proportion of housing bonds in their portfolios than they would normally choose. There are no good arguments for letting insurance policyholders subsidise either housing loan institutions or their customers. Now the new investment rules were introduced for the insurance companies without this leading to any of the terrible consequences that had been predicted. The housing loan institutions began to borrow abroad to an increasing extent, which was a good idea from many respects. Hopefully, then the desire to create space for a larger proportion of housing bonds in the Swedish insurance companies’ portfolios will then no longer serve as a motivation for the gilt-edged bonds. As long as the insurance companies had their undertakings in kronor, some concentration of investments was explicable.

Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus: Value based intermediation - beyond profit Keynote address by Ms Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia), at the Global Islamic Finance Forum 2018 (GIFF) "Value Based Intermediation - Beyond Profit", Kuala Lumpur, 3 October 2018. * * * Henry Ford, credited with revolutionising the American transportation industry in the 20th century, once remarked that “Business must be run at a profit, else it will die. But when anyone attempts to run a business solely for profit and thinks not at all of the service to the community, then also the business must die, for it no longer has a reason for existence”. Nearly a hundred years since, these words of wisdom remain true. Perhaps, even more so now than ever. Indeed, we have witnessed time and again, episodes of excessiveness, and the sole and unchecked pursuit of profits, that have led to global financial crises. The theme of this conference, “Value Based Intermediation – Beyond Profit”, is therefore a fitting reminder of the role of finance, and Islamic finance in particular, in helping build a more resilient and sustainable future. In the past half century, the world economy expanded sixfold, despite experiencing the worst and most expensive financial crisis. Average per capita income more than doubled to about USD11,000, compared to only about USD5,000 in 1967. People are living longer, with better quality of life, greater access to basic necessities, improved health and medical care, and better education.
0 2000  2003  2006  2009  2012  2015  2018  Sources: Bank of England/GfK NOP. Notes: The red dots show the adjusted inflation expectations at the one, two and five year horizons in the February 2015 Bank/GfK NOP household survey; grey lines show adjusted perceptions and expectations from previous vintages of the survey. Turning to financial market measures of inflation expectations, two-year ahead forward inflation rates have fallen by around 40bp over the past year and 5-year ahead expectations by the same amount. This appears to have been, to a degree, a global phenomenon, with forward inflation rates also falling in the US and euro-area (Chart 21). Chart 22 looks at the term structure of RPI inflation implied by inflation swap rates. Inflation is near the bottom of its distribution over the period 2009–2013. Financial markets appear to expect inflation to remain lower for longer than in the recent past. Because the period 2009– 2013 was associated with higher than target levels of inflation, financial market inflation expectations may still be broadly consistent with the Bank’s inflation target. BIS central bankers’ speeches  11  Chart 21: Changes in 5-year instantaneous forward inflation swap rates since March 2014 Percentage points  UK Euro-area US  Mar 2014  Sep 2014  Sources: Bloomberg and Bank Calculations.

Essentially, it all comes down to a choice between two alternatives. On the one hand, central banks can try to slow down a worryingly rapid price rise in the housing market by keeping interest rates higher than they otherwise would have been. The obvious risk is that if increasing prices actually are driven by fundamentals, then an incorrect assessment has  2  BIS Review 134/2008  been made and demand in the economy will be subdued unnecessarily. But if the assessment was correct, a rapid downward correction in house prices may be avoided, or at least mitigated, as well as a subsequent fall in demand. On the other hand, central banks can disregard the fears and refrain from raising the interest rate. If price increases in this case are due to fundamentals a needless slow down in demand will be avoided. But if prices are due, for instance, to over-optimism among households and lenders, then severe problems may occur in the future when there is a rapid downward adjustment of house prices and a subsequent fall in demand and inflation. Which of the two alternatives is preferable can always be discussed, and may quite likely vary from case to case. However, it is far from obvious that the best choice is always to wait and see when facing a rapid increase in the price of houses or some other asset.
Sources: Central Bank of Chile and National Statistics Institute (INE). 18  Figure 11 Labor contribution to trend GDP growth in 2017-2026 (percentage points)  1.2  1.2 Immigration (0.1pp) Female participation (0.1pp)  0.8  0.8  Job quality (0.35pp) 0.4  0.4 Working age population (0.45pp)  0.0  0.0 Hours worked (-0.2pp)  -0.4  -0.4  Source: Central Bank of Chile. Figure 12 Growth breakdown in Chile (percentage points)  Mining 15  15  Non-mining 8  10  10  6  6  5  5  4  4  0  0  2  2  -5  -5  0  0  -10  -10  -2  -2  -15  -4  -15 2000  2004  2008  Physical capital  2012  2016  Human capital  8  -4 2000  Mining ore  2004  2008  Revised TFP  2012  2016  GDP  Source: De la Huerta and Luttini (2017).

However, the Riksbank can stimulate the economy further in other ways without needing to cut the repo rate to zero. The most important measure concerns ensuring that the real interest rate, that is, the repo rate adjusted for inflation expectations, is sufficiently low. This can be done by influencing inflation expectations, which is made easier as we have a numerical inflation target and we publish forecasts for both the inflation rate and the repo rate. We can, for instance, announce that we are going to hold a low repo rate for a longer period than we assumed at the monetary policy meeting in April and show how the inflation path will then approach 2 per cent more quickly than otherwise. This would raise inflation expectations. A further possibility would be for the Riksbank to contribute to pushing down the rate on government bonds, housing bonds or commercial paper by purchases in these markets. There may also arise a portfolio balance effect if other market participants’ demand for corporate bonds, for instance, were to rise as a result of the Riksbank's purchase of government bonds. However, there is reason to await a more detailed analysis of the need for, and possibilities with, these measures. There are also a number of legal issues surrounding this type of measure that must be taken into account before such measures are implemented. At the most recent monetary policy meeting I did not consider that it was yet time to do anything other than cut the repo rate.
Edward Scicluna: Pursuing price and financial stability Address by Prof Edward Scicluna, Governor of the Central Bank of Malta, at the annual dinner of the Institute of Financial Services, Saint Julian's, 2 December 2022. *** President and Members of the Committee of the Institute of Financial Services (IFS) Malta, distinguished guests, good evening. Last year's annual dinner took place at a time economies were gradually re-opening and forecasts for economic growth were being upgraded. Policy rates in the main advanced economies were still negative or mildly positive. Fiscal stimulus was gradually being withdrawn. The spike in inflation was also expected to go back to moderate levels in the course of 2022. And then came war. Apart from the human loss it has caused, the war in Ukraine has amplified shortages of certain commodities and unleashed an unprecedented energy shock which has disproportionately affected Europe. Lately, supply bottlenecks have started to dissipate, as reflected in globalsurveys ofsupplier delivery times and mainstream freight rates. Yet, inflation has remained elevated. In the euro area, inflation increased from just above 5% in January this year, to 10.6% in October, moving into two-digit territory for the first time in decades. Meanwhile, HICP excluding food and energy, has broadly doubled, standing at 5.0% in October, in part reflecting indirect effects from higher energy costs but also the lagged effects of rising non-energy costs.

Már Guðmundsson: Economic situation and outlook and monetary policy Speech by Mr Már Guðmundsson, Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland, at a breakfast meeting of the Iceland Chamber of Commerce, Reykjavík, 5 November 2010. *  *  *  Mr./Madame Chairman, honoured guests, The Iceland Chamber of Commerce has a long tradition of holding a breakfast meeting shortly after the Central Bank has published its new macroeconomic and inflation forecast early each winter. This year and last year, the publication of that forecast has coincided with the announcement of the Monetary Policy Committee’s interest rate decision. The Central Bank welcomes this initiative. It is important to be able to explain monetary policy decisions as fully as possible, and this meeting has always been a good opportunity to do so. It is particularly important at this juncture, when monetary policy is formulated under unusually complex circumstances. Effective, forward-looking monetary policy is always complex, of course, as it is formulated under conditions of uncertainty about the current situation and future prospects for the economy. But in our case, three new factors are added to an already complex situation. First of all, there is great uncertainty about the effect of monetary policy measures on the financial markets and the real economy in the wake of the financial crisis.
Its significant similarities to the principles in ethical finance and socially responsible investment has been a further factor that has drawn  BIS Review 136/2008  1  interest in Islamic Finance. Islamic finance does not only involve the avoidance of riba (usury) but also extends to issues relating to ethical values, such as fair trade and environmental protection. This has prompted participation from conventional global players in Islamic financial activities and in the acquisition of strategic stakes in Islamic financial institutions. There is also a growing number of established international financial centres such as London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore that have initiated plans for the integration of Islamic finance into their financial systems. Islamic finance has now become one of the fastest growing segments in the global financial system. The total Islamic assets under management by Islamic banks and conventional banks offering Islamic banking services is reported to exceed USD500 billion. This growth has also been in the other major components of the Islamic financial system. Islamic mutual funds are estimated to be about USD300 billion, while global takaful or Shariah-compliant insurance contributions are estimated to be about USD5 billion. Strengthening the international infrastructure Integral to the efforts in the development of Islamic finance has been the development of the supporting international Islamic financial architecture.

2  BIS Review 38/2002  Hong Kong In Hong Kong, other contributors to deflation over the past few years have been the general strength of the US dollar and the process of price equalisation across the border with the Mainland, although both the IMF and we in the HKMA have found that this latter effect is rather weaker overall than a few 5 well publicised examples might lead one to believe. Hong Kong's deflation, of some 12% in CPI terms over four years, seems, however, to be considerably more than could be accounted for by the above list of essentially non-cyclical factors. We therefore infer that much of it has been cyclical. To what extent has the currency board been responsible for this cycle? About half of the fall in our CPI can be attributed to a collapse of property prices, which feed through both directly and indirectly to the CPI. This in turn was largely the result of the bursting of a previous asset price bubble. This is the part of our deflation which may appear most obviously to be linked to domestic monetary conditions rather than to any global cyclical factors.