samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
1  BIS Review 28/2000  Let me begin by examining the question from the central bank’s stance as guardian of the integrity of the payments system and as banking supervisor. I believe there are perhaps two characteristics of e-banking which may deserve some vigilance here. The first is the technical security of access and messaging. This is a matter of accuracy, safety and secrecy. If we use the internet to move our money, or to hold our money, we expect messages to arrive at their destination without error or interception; we expect the system to be safe from fraudulent or unauthorised access; and we expect to enjoy the same degree of customer confidentiality as with conventional banking arrangements. We want to be assured not only that the execution process is reliable and secure, but also that there are adequate controls on any “read only” access facilities. How can we obtain these assurances? Perhaps some of you mirror my own feeling of personal inadequacy in matters of electronic technology. Inevitably we are dependent on the experts. They have devised sophisticated methods of electronic signatures, encryption, certification, firewalls and the like. One way or another, by obtaining appropriate professional advice, by applying rigorous standards of compliance and computer audit, and so on, those within an organisation should be able to deliver the necessary assurances to customers, and the regulatory or supervisory authorities will need to satisfy themselves as to the dependability of such assurances.

Today, however, I want to devote the limited time available to talking about electronic money within the internet itself, so I shall not be discussing card-based money any further. Many people speak of the arrival of the internet era as a revolution in business practice. From the particular viewpoint of making payments, I prefer to regard it as a step along an evolutionary path rather than as something revolutionary. Our distant forefathers were sceptical about the introduction of banknotes in place of metallic tokens and coins; and our more recent forefathers were worried as to the reliability of cheques as a substitute for cash when they first appeared. Even during the span of my own working life I can recall initial resistance by some to credit cards and debit cards on suspicions about the security of the arrangements, as well as opposition to autopay and direct debit schemes for fear of granting to a third party too general an authority to debit one’s bank account. But each of these innovations has, in the event, been assimilated and has taken its place in the range of accepted payment instruments. I would expect e-banking to follow suit, as just another step along the evolutionary path. But it is perhaps worth pausing to consider whether there is anything intrinsically different about e-banking which demands special attention from the central bank.
52  (b) The changing nature of media  Accompanying, and contributing, to these shifts in the structure of trust have been important changes in the methods by which information is intermediated. The traditional model of information intermediation gave the mainstream media – TV, newspapers, radio – a central role in filtering, assimilating and propagating  52  Botsman (2016). 13  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  13  information to the public. As recently as 2000, circulation of paid-for daily and Sunday newspapers was equivalent to around 60% of US and UK households. 53  The past few years have seen dramatic shifts in the way news is reaching the public. Some of this may reflect a decline in trust in mainstream media. A recent Gallup poll reported trust in the mass media had fallen to less than a third of the US population. 54  This compares with more than half at the start of the  century. This decline in trust has been particularly pronounced among younger age groups. This loss of trust in mainstream media can also be seen in surveys of how people receive their news. Only 20% of Americans get news regularly from a print newspaper. 55  For those aged over 50, the traditional  media continue to dominate as a news source (Chart 13). But for those under-50, around half get their news online and fewer than 10% from newspapers. Within online, social media has been rising rapidly as a news source.

Machine would, in effect, replace man (and the odd woman). Other things equal, this greater transparency would tend to increase the degree of accountability of, and trust in, the central bank among the general public. But other things are rarely equal. The downsides of slavish adherence to a fixed rule are also wellunderstood. 77  They include the fact that rules can sometimes be fragile and fallible, particularly at times of  structural change. If blind adherence to an algorithm sent policy and the economy into a tailspin, that is unlikely to enhance trust in central banks among the wider public. That does not mean, of course, that rules cannot play a useful informational role in setting policy, as is the case in a number of central banks. 76 77 78  78  Meltzer (2009), Taylor (2011, 2012). Williams (2015, 2016b), Haldane and Radia (2016), Yellen (2017). Williams (2014), Yellen (2017). 25  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  25  An alternative way of making monetary policy more accountable would be to canvass the views of the general public directly. 79  Digital technology means this option is feasible. But would it be desirable? Public  referenda are hardly infallible. You may have heard there was an important referendum in the UK last year. The result came as a surprise to many. For some, it was a shameful example of the perils of populism.
In some instances, individuals rely absolutely for their future lifetime incomes on the continuity of their insurance cover. To achieve an appropriate level of policyholder protection, insurers must be, and be seen to be, safe and sound. I have said this before but I think it is worth reiterating. The PRA believes the UK industry is in a good position, having had the UK risk-based ICAS regime for around ten years. We are therefore not looking to use Solvency II as an opportunity to raise capital requirements across the board. We do, however, recognise and respect that Solvency II is a maximum-harmonising Directive with a key objective of promoting supervisory co-operation. The PRA is committed to upholding this valued objective and will implement the Directive as intended. We can’t and won’t gold plate. Our approach has been, and will continue to be, proportionate in our supervision. As a judgement-led, risk-based regulator, this principle is already part of the PRA approach. It is not the PRA’s role to make sure no insurer fails. However, we are concerned that any failure is orderly and manageable. We seek this in conjunction with appropriate policy holder protection. For example, when business models become challenged we may seek to secure manageable and orderly wind-down, as has been seen in the past in this sector. In fact, roughly one third of insurers authorised by the PRA are in some form of run-off. More than just a capital regime, Solvency II strengthens the linkage between capital and risk management.

In Sweden, by contrast, the demand for cash has fallen sharply in recent years and the central bank is actively considering the costs and benefits of issuing its own ‘e-krona’: see for instance http://www.riksbank.se/en/Financialstability/Payments/Does-Sweden-need-the-e-krona/. 5 Similar themes were recently also highlighted by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the IMF, at the Bank of England’s conference on monetary policy independence, 20 years on: https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2017/09/28/sp092917-centralbanking-and-fintech-a-brave-new-world. 6 See for instance the Governor’s speech in April 2017: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Documents/speeches/2017/speech974.pdf, a compendium of the Bank’s work on digital currencies: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/research/Pages/onebank/cbdc.aspx, and the recent report by the Financial Stability Board: http://www.fsb.org/2017/06/financial-stability-implications-from-fintech/. 4  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  4  Now these clearly aren’t the goals of traditional private sector accelerators, which aim to make money by helping nascent businesses refine the design of their products in ways likely to attract both investors and customers. We make no financial investment in the firms we work with. But we do I think share the 7  underlying objective of ‘accelerated mutual learning-by-doing’ – since central banks are likely to be key stakeholders for many forms of FinTech over the medium term, both in shaping the rules that bear on them, and as technology users.
This current low profitability is concentrated in banks’ business in Spain, although their activity abroad, which provided them with a valuable source of risk diversification during the crisis, is not plain sailing, particularly at present when some of the economies to which Spanish banks are exposed (such as Turkey and Argentina) are going through notable difficulties. In any event, as they deal with the low profitability of their domestic business, Spanish banks will have to guard against overly relaxing their loan approval and selection criteria. The third challenge facing the banking sector is that associated with the process of adapting to a more stringent regulatory framework with higher own funds and liquid assets requirements and other additional requirements derived from the new resolution regulations. Spanish banks have already largely adapted to the new requirements, and their liquidity and solvency ratios stand above the minimum requirements, although as can be seen in Chart 19 their CET1 capital ratios are low compared with those of the other euro area banking systems, underscoring the need for banks to strengthen their capital levels. It should be noted that although most of the regulatory changes have already taken place, some reforms 11/14  have yet to be applied in full, such as the Basel III review and the MREL requirements, which will involve further adaptation by banks. Lastly, the main future challenge facing Spanish credit institutions relates to the new competition framework stemming from the emergence of new technologies and growing financial disintermediation.

In the economic and tax spheres, some kind of common cyclical insurance mechanism is also needed, to cut adjustment costs for countries experiencing asymmetric shocks, and help is needed to design a fiscal policy more tailored to the euro area as a whole so that, in the event of a severe crisis, monetary policy will no longer be the only tool available to uphold aggregate demand. In future, further progress must also be made in the capital markets union, which is essential to achieve greater capital market integration, fortify banking union and strengthen the private mechanisms for efficient allocation of financial resources and the risks associated with their investment throughout the European Union. Conclusions As you can see, the Banco de España’s Annual Report provides an ambitious analysis and diagnosis of the Spanish economy. The main conclusions drawn in the Report, which was prepared in the first half of the year, remain essentially valid, despite the apparent growing deceleration of the global, European and Spanish economies: -  First, the need to take advantage of a level of economic growth that is still above potential to speedily and determinedly address the necessary fiscal consolidation process. In this respect, guaranteeing the financial sustainability of the public pension system is particularly important, in view of the medium-term implications. For this purpose, a comprehensive package of measures to address the effects of population ageing on the economy is essential.
Through 2003, the interest rate differential has narrowed as a result of monetary policy easing. This has also contributed to a substantial depreciation of the krone. In Norway, internationally oriented business sectors, such as the ICT sector and the travel industry, have been particularly affected by weak global developments. Expectations concerning future earnings have been revised downwards substantially in these sectors. This has led to cost cuts and  2  BIS Review 43/2003  redundancies. Combined with a deterioration in competitiveness and lower activity in manufacturing, this has resulted in rising unemployment in the last year. Public agencies have had limited opportunities to increase service production because wages have risen. Some municipalities and other government agencies have reduced the number of employees. While real economic activity has declined and unemployment has increased, inflation in Norway is now low. The rise in consumer prices adjusted for taxes and excluding energy products (CPI-ATE) has slowed, primarily due to developments in prices for imported consumer goods. Low inflation is a consequence of the appreciation of the krone throughout last year and low inflation abroad. The rise in prices for domestically produced goods and services has also slowed. This particularly applies to prices for domestically produced goods influenced by world market prices. In August, the year-on-year rise in the CPI-ATE was 0.9 per cent, after having been down to 0.7 per cent one month earlier. This was slightly lower than projected in the last Inflation Report and considerably lower than the inflation target of 2.5 per cent.

The public sector employs more than one-third of the labour force in Norway. In Northern Norway, public sector employees account for close to 45 per cent of the labour force. The primary industries are important for the counties in Northern Norway, especially the utilisation of the abundant fish resources in the coastal areas. A large part of the fishing industry is export-oriented and is increasingly competing with low-cost countries. These industries will be vulnerable when the rise in domestic costs is high. There are wide regional variations in unemployment. At the end of July, the number of registered unemployed in Northern Norway came to 4.4 per cent of the labour force, which is slightly higher than the national average of 4.1 per cent. Even though the region has somewhat higher unemployment than the national average, the rise in unemployment in Northern Norway has been relatively low in the last year. Unemployment has only risen half as much in Northern Norway as in the rest of the country. The number of unemployed has risen least in the county of Finnmark in the last year. This is probably related to the industry structure which is characterised by a relatively high share of employees in the public service sector. As I have mentioned, a look at the current situation in this part of the country and similar reports from the other regions represent important information in the work on setting interest rates. The short-term nominal interest rate in Norway has now reached a historically very low level.
Dear colleagues, happy anniversary! BIS central bankers’ speeches  5

Furthermore, a limit will be enforced on the amount of assets issued by entities with a high carbon footprint that can be pledged as collateral when borrowing from the Eurosystem. The assessment of financial risks for private actors will see an active involvement of the Eurosystem. To ensure that the economy remains resilient during the transition to net zero, the Eurosystem is stress-testing euro area banks for climate-related events. Banks’ level of preparedness will be evaluated and, were deficiencies to emerge, recommendations will be issued to strengthen banks’ climate frameworks. The results of the ECB’s 2022 Climate Stress Tests (CST) showed that banks have started to integrate climate risk into their stress-testing frameworks, although most institutions are still at a very early stage when it comes to factoring climate risk factors into their credit risk models. (SSM Climate stress test report). When it comes to the Maltese economy, the Central Bank of Malta has made a first attempt at quantifying the exposure of the domestic financial system to sectors of economic activity that may be affected by transition to clean sources of energy. In a nutshell, as of June 2021 just over 23% of the domestic banking sector’s lending was directed towards sectors identified to be high carbon dioxide (CO2) intensive (such as energy, construction and transportation and storage), while an additional 27.7% was issued towards mid CO2 intensive 5  sectors (mostly services).
Since mortgages are a highly standardised product, the price, ie the rate of interest, will be a decisive factor in the competition for customers. As competition on the mortgage market increases, the cost of refinancing will become the decisive factor for mortgage institutions’ possibilities to pursue a profitable business. I will therefore devote the rest of this speech to the question of refinancing. The Swedish mortgage institutions´ balance sheets, 1999. 10%  2%  Stadshypotek + Handelsbanken Hypotek (33 %)  1% 33%  SPINTAB + Föreningsbanken Kredit (28 %) SBAB (13 %)  13%  Nordbanken Hypotek (13 %) Skandia Banken Bolån (1%) 13%  SEB-Bolån (10 %) Venantius (2 %) 28%  Swedish mortgage institutions´ shares of borrowing on the security market (money market instruments and bonds), 2000. 7% 3% 13%  35%  SPINTAB Stadshypotek SBAB NB Hypotek SEB Bolån  18%  Övriga 24%  Traditional mortgage financing Swedish mortgage institutions finance their operations mainly by issuing bonds and certificates. The entire balance sheet of the mortgage institution serves as security for borrowing, and consequently each loan is not directly linked to a specific amount of collateral. 5  BIS Review 99/2000  The advantage of the Swedish model is that borrowing can be undertaken without any fixed link to specific loans. This means that large loans can be put onto the market, which makes it easier to uphold regular trade and strong liquidity. This has been the case with the Swedish benchmark bonds.

Real GDP expanded at a 3.0 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2011, the fastest growth since the first half of 2010. The average monthly job gain was 212,000 in the first quarter of 2012, up from 164,000 in the fourth quarter. Sales of light-weight motor vehicles were about 14 ½ million at an annual rate in the first quarter, the best quarter in four years. Survey measures of business activity have rebounded from their dips in the middle of last year and are now at levels that typically indicate solid overall growth. Even housing starts have firmed somewhat in the last few months, although they remain at depressed levels. While these developments are certainly encouraging, it is still too soon to conclude that we are out of the woods, as underlined by the March labor market release. To begin with, the economic data looked brighter at this point in 2010 and again in 2011, only to fade later in those years. Moreover, the United States experienced unusually mild weather over the first quarter, with the number of heating degree days more than 20 percent below the average of the preceding five years, which may have pulled forward some economic activity and hiring. In this regard, the somewhat softer March labor market report that was released last Friday may reflect the earlier positive influence of the mild weather on job creation in January and February, although other less sanguine interpretations are also plausible.
This requires a significant shift in perspective towards how we value social and ecological factors. These should be viewed as inter-linked with the economy and economic well-being and not as silos. Neither as a zero sum game, or polar opposites. Beyond this and given the multidimensional nature of the SDGs, knowledge and capacity building across sectors is crucial. In this regard, the Bank views climate resilience as a significant part of achieving the SDGs. Understanding and managing climate-related risks enhance the financial sector’s role in enabling an orderly transition to a low-carbon and sustainable economy. Over the past 20 years, more than 50 natural disaster events occurred in Malaysia, accounting for RM8 billion losses. As climate-related events intensify, the economic costs arising from physical risk, transition risk and liability risk will escalate and may have persistent system-wide impacts on financial stability and adversely affect macroeconomic conditions. Viewed from this perspective, climate change developments therefore are crucially relevant to the Bank’s mandate. With this in mind, the Bank, as a member of the Central Banks and Supervisors Network of Greening the Financial System or NGFS is committed towards building a comprehensive understanding of the impact of climate-related risks to the Malaysian financial system and economy.

Ravi Menon: The work of the NGFS in four emerging issues in climate change Opening remarks by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Chairman, Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), at the NGFS Workshop, Singapore, 26 April 2023. *** Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am delighted to welcome you to the inaugural NGFS Workshop in Singapore. We held our annual NGFS Plenary meeting yesterday. We discussed how the NGFS can continue to push the envelope in greening the financial system: to strengthen the resilience of the financial system to climate and environmental risks and; to encourage financing flows to support the transition to a net-zero world. The NGFS is well-placed to do this – we are a coalition of 125 central banks and financial regulators from over 90 jurisdictions. Our size enables us to make an impact globally and our diversity enables us to harness multiple perspectives. The work we do is not only important but urgent. Climate change is already happening – its physical manifestations are becoming increasingly evident – especially here in Asia. We are already seeing unprecedented heat waves, floods, and agricultural degradation. One of the key roles of the NGFS is to build capacity and capabilities among central banks and supervisors to deal with the climate challenge. This inaugural NGFS Workshop, with more than 150 participants from over 60 institutions, will discuss cuttingedge economic and financial issues related to climate change and nature loss.