samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
With regard to real GDP growth, it appears that the recovery in the euro area has continued into 2004, following quarter-on-quarter growth rates of 0.3-0.4% in the second half of 2003. Recently released data on production and demand as well as confidence indicators have been mixed, implying some short-term uncertainty, while preliminary information available after the tragic events in Madrid on 11 March does not suggest a major impact on confidence. We will continue to monitor the situation closely. On balance, there is currently no evidence challenging the assessment of continued, though modest, real GDP growth in the euro area over the short term. More fundamentally, the conditions remain in place for the recovery to continue in 2004 and to strengthen over time. First, global economic growth is robust and broadly based, both geographically and across sectors, thereby providing a positive external environment for the euro area. In this context, we expect euro area exports to grow significantly this year and next, despite some past losses in price competitiveness. Second, on the domestic side, investment should be helped by favourable financing conditions, an improvement in corporate earnings and spillover effects from global demand trends. Some signs of an improvement in fixed capital investment are already discernible in the Eurostat data for the fourth quarter of last year. As regards private consumption, growth in real disposable income should lead to increased spending, in particular because there are no financial constraints for households which would pose obstacles to higher expenditure.

European Central Bank: Press conference - introductory statement Introductory statement by Mr Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, and Mr Lucas Papademos, Vice-President of the European Central Bank, at the press conference held in Frankfurt, 1 April 2004. *  *  *  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome again to our press conference. Before I proceed, I would like to remind you that I have conveyed the Governing Council’s sincere condolences to Jaime Caruana, Governor of the Banco de España, following the terrorist attacks in Madrid on 11 March 2004. I assured him of the Governing Council’s total solidarity with the Spanish people and the Banco de España. The Vice-President and I will now report on the outcome of today’s meeting of the Governing Council of the ECB. On the basis of our regular economic and monetary analysis, we have not changed our assessment that the current stance of monetary policy remains in line with the maintenance of price stability over the medium term. Accordingly, the key ECB interest rates have been left unchanged. The low level of interest rates also provides ongoing support to the economic recovery in the euro area. We will continue to monitor carefully all developments that could affect our assessment of risks to price stability over the medium term. Let me now provide a more detailed explanation of our decision, turning first to the economic analysis.
Such initiatives will have to weigh the objective of improved disclosure of pertinent information versus convenience and effectiveness considerations. 31 We are also working to improve the Product Highlights Sheet, or PHS. As background, MAS requires issuers to set out clearly in their offering documents information pertaining to their business, operating environment, financial position and prospects, key risks as well as salient terms of the instruments offered. A full prospectus can run into hundreds of pages. We know many retail investors are likely to find it hard to digest all the information in a prospectus, especially since some of these are written in a technical and legalistic manner. 32 MAS has therefore required issuers to furnish a PHS, which is a summary of the key information presented in a clear and concise manner. It started well. But over the years, we noticed a creep where the form and content of the PHSes put out by issuers have become increasingly technical and legalistic. This picture is a sample PHS that we typically see today. Despite our efforts to encourage issuers to simplify the language and use more visual aids, we have found that most PHSes are still very cluttered and difficult to read. We are reviewing how to improve the way useful information is presented in the PHS. What you see is a prototype of an improved PHS that we are considering. We have incorporated consumer-friendly message design, clear and simple language and the use of effective diagrams and infographics.

BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  Table 1 World growth (annual change, percent) Average 00-07  2010 (e)  2011 (f)  Dec.11 MP Report  2012 (f)  Jan.12 WEO  Dec.11 MP Report  2013 (f)  Jan.12 WEO  Dec.11 MP Report  Jan.12 WEO  World at PPP (1)  4.2  5.0  3.8  3.8  3.5  3.3  4.1  3.9  World at market exchange rate (2)  3.2  3.9  2.8  2.8  2.7  2.5  3.2  3.2  United States  2.6  3.0  1.7  1.8  1.8  1.8  2.2  2.2  Eurozone  2.2  1.9  1.6  1.6  -0.1  -0.5  1.0  0.8  Japan  1.7  4.4  -0.7  -0.9  2.0  1.7  1.6  1.6  China  10.5  10.4  9.1  9.2  8.2  8.2  8.5  8.8  Rest of Asia  5.1  7.8  4.5  4.9  4.4  5.0  4.8  5.0  Latin America (excl.
Denis Beau: Innovations in the financial sector and central banks’ contributions Speech by Mr Denis Beau, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of France, at the Paris Blockchain Week Summit 2020, 10 December 2020. * * * Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, I am delighted to be here with you at the Paris Blockchain Week Summit today to talk about innovation in the financial sector and the contribution of central banks. Central banks, in the context of their general mandate to ensure monetary and financial stability, use three main levers to fulfill their responsibilities in the field of market infrastructure and payments on which I would like to focus my remarks today: supervision, service provision and intermediation. Against the backdrop of rapid technological changes, using these levers is more challenging than ever because we do so to promote efficiency and safety and there are trade-offs between these two objectives. This may expose us to criticism of conservatism and bias regarding innovation: firstly, in favour of “old” technologies which have proved their robustness but might not be in tune with new developments and secondly, in favour of well-established and regulated incumbents. Let me say immediately that such criticisms would be misguided and undeserved. To explain why, first, let me stress that promoting sustainable innovation is part and parcel of our mandate, and second let me illustrate what we do concretely in that regard. I.

Nevertheless, the strong demand in the ecosystem to provide innovative solutions convinced us of the interest of an experimental approach in this field. The way we experiment with CBDCs for wholesale transactions perfectly illustrates our choice to move from conceptual and academic considerations, to experiments in the field, hand in hand with market players, using a pragmatic, trial and error way of working. The goal is to determine i) how digital central bank money may improve the efficiency and fluidity of payment and settlement systems, ii) what are the most promising technologies and iii) whether it makes sense to make central bank money available to beneficiaries that do not have access to it yet. In May this year, we conducted a first successful and very promising experiment with Société Générale Forge, that enabled us to test the three steps of a digital transaction: the tokenisation of a security, the digital representation of central bank money on a private blockchain, and the settlement of a transaction on the security on the private blockchain. This led us to interface successfully a public with a private blockchain. Upcoming CBDC experiments – there will be eight of them – will help us to investigate not only the potential of technology but also to question the players in the ecosystem on what tomorrow’s landscape could look like, on subjects as fundamental as the methods of exchanging financial instruments for CBDCs, the improvement of the conditions for executing cross-border payments or new ways of making CBDCs available to financial sector players.
Last year, AFIN launched the API eXchange – the world’s first cross-border, open architecture platform to enhance financial inclusion. The API eXchange is a cloud-based platform that does two things: It is a marketplace, enabling financial institutions to discover and connect with FinTech partners through APIs on a globally curated platform. It also provides a sandbox environment for financial institutions and FinTech firms to design and test cross-border solutions. I have spoken so far of how the two musketeers – Finance and Technology – can and must come together to bring value and convenience to customers. But for consumers to be part of this ecosystem, there needs to be Trust – the third musketeer. Trust – the Musketeer who Binds Consumers to Finance Trust is similar to Aramis, the third musketeer who is faithful and values friendship. Trust is a key attribute for the success of a financial ecosystem. It is a shared responsibility among all the actors in the ecosystem. Banks in particular must be trustworthy so that customers have faith that their money and 7 / 10  BIS central bankers' speeches  data are safe with them. As Finance adopts more Technology, it must pay close attention to three risks, so as to maintain the Trust of consumers. First, cyber risk. As more financial services move online and collaboration among banks and technology companies becomes more pervasive, a growing risk that financial institutions are facing is in cyber space. The frequency, scale, and complexity of cyber-attacks are mounting.

It is only right that we continue to capture these recollections and stories of Governor Ismail Ali and therefore, the Bank will publish a Second Edition of this book. It is our hope that the vision, dedication and resilience of Governor Ismail Ali would inspire our future generations, be it central bankers or not – and to prepare them as they partake in the dynamic financial ecosystem. This book chronicles, not just who he was and what he did, but also what Governor Ismail Ali stood for and what he envisioned for this country. It is said that there are two things parents should give their children: one are roots, and the other are wings. As the first Malaysian Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, Governor Ismail Ali planted the principles that now run deep within the Bank and gave us the vision to soar towards. As guardians of the financial system, central bankers must maintain public trust. Not only does a 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  central bank need to be careful custodians of monetary policy and an able adviser to the Government, we need to be seen and recognised as the competent authority to discharge these roles. A central bank needs to engender confidence. Governor Ismail Ali’s immutable emphasis on the integrity of the Bank’s moral compass and the strength of our competency stems from a sense of duty, Amanah.
William C Dudley: Supervising large, complex financial institutions – defining objectives and measuring effectiveness Opening remarks by Mr William C Dudley, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the Conference on “Supervising Large, Complex Financial Institutions: Defining Objectives and Measuring Effectiveness”, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York City, 18 March 2016. *  *  *  Welcome. It is great to see all of you here today to discuss the objectives and measurement of supervision for large, complex financial institutions. Nearly eight years have passed since the financial crisis hit, pushing the financial system and the U.S. economy to the brink, and leaving scars that are still evident today. The hardships of the financial crisis are unfortunately still open wounds for too many people, especially those who lost their jobs, homes or businesses, or those who struggled with the sharp fall in value of their homes and with staying current on their debts and bills. Understanding what went wrong and how to avoid severe financial crises in the future is, I am sure, an issue foremost in the minds of all the distinguished speakers here today, and I am no exception. Before continuing, let me indicate that what I have to say today reflects my own views and not necessarily those of the Federal Open Market Committee or the Federal Reserve System.

We believe that our approach of setting the targets and forecasts rather than forecasts alone on a declining path involves a firmer commitment on behalf of the central bank; therefore it is more transparent and more effective in anchoring inflation expectations. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Dear guests, Being a central banker, I have mostly focused on inflation and monetary policy dimension of commodity price movements. Needless to say, the course of commodity prices has implications on many other key macro variables. For example, as a net energy-commodity importer, Turkey’s dependence on energy imports makes the current account balance more sensitive to volatility in commodity prices. Recent uncertainty surrounding the energy market is not comparable to any other period in the near history. Moreover, there is a significant risk that commodity prices stay volatile due to uncertainties regarding global economy and the exceptionally loose monetary policies across the globe. Therefore, medium-term outlook for commodity prices is unusually hard to predict. In the long term, supply conditions and structural policies should adjust to stabilize the energy and other commodity prices. The recent concrete steps as part of the medium term programs in Turkey, aiming at curtailing the dependence on energy imports by switching towards domestically produced and renewable energy sources, have important implications also for decreasing the sensitivity of current account balances to international price movements.
Annual headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation remains below 3%, although it has sped up in recent months, reaching 2.7% in July. Core inflation, meanwhile, which excludes the more volatile prices in the consumer basket (ie. food and energy), remains below 2%. Both figures are in line with expectations. Globally, the US-China trade conflict has intensified which, together with the cyclical state of the US economy and its divergence from that of other developed economies, has led to a global appreciation of the dollar and a fall in commodity prices. All this has affected hardest the emerging economies that are perceived as the most vulnerable. For now, global growth projections have had limited changes. In Chile, the exchange rate has again acted as a cushion that has protected the local financial market. The Board of the CBC has continued to apply a clearly expansionary monetary policy, keeping the monetary policy interest rate (MPR) at 2.5% since May of last year. At yesterday’s monetary policy meeting we held the rate unchanged and announced that the evolution of macroeconomic conditions makes it less necessary to maintain the current monetary stimulus, so that if the current scenario continues, the rate should begin to fall in the coming months. This will allow both headline and core inflation to converge to the target during 2019.

At the statistical close of this Report (28 August), the peso/dollar parity was somewhat above CLP660, 5.5% higher than at the close of the previous Report. In the days that followed the peso has depreciated further vis-à-vis the dollar. However, in multilateral terms the depreciation has been milder, even with an appreciation against other emerging and commodity exporters' currencies, reflecting the greater relative strength of the Chilean economy. The real depreciation of the peso has been lower (near 1% since the previous Report). As a working assumption, the baseline scenario of this Report continues to assume that, in the course of the policy horizon, the real exchange rate will go back to its averages of the last fifteen to twenty years (Figure 7). As for domestic credit, local financial conditions are still good, in line with the ongoing expansionary stance of monetary policy. Accordingly, the interest rates of many segments stayed low and credit growth remained limited. However, it is worth mentioning that commercial rates increased again, in a context where qualitative indicators report increased demand and more accommodating supply (Figure 8). For the moment, the higher risk perception has translated into a limited revision to global growth prospects, with decelerating growth rates in 2019 and 2020. By blocs, the outlook for developed countries does not differ from that in the June Monetary Policy Report. Instead, in the emerging countries the downward adjustment in Latin America stands out, especially Argentina and Brazil. Add the expected slowdown in China (Table 2).
The amended law is now known as “Anti-Money Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorist Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001” and has come into effect on 1 September this year. As for the private sector, particularly the financial institutions and key gatekeepers such as lawyers, changes brought about in the operating environment demands greater need for the private sectors to be more vigilance in fulfilling their AML/CFT obligations. Compliance with AML/CFT law and regulations require high commitment from all levels of the staff, particularly the front-liners or staff facing the customers. Around the world, non-compliances with AML/CFT obligations are seriously dealt with. At the international level, we have witnessed banks been penalised to the tune of billion of dollars for their failure to comply with AML/CFT law and regulations. In Malaysia, we have taken and will continue to take strong actions on financial institutions and other reporting institutions that failed to comply and implement AML/CFT law and regulations. Another key element for an effective AML/CFT eco-system is the effective financial intelligence and enforcement. The important source of financial intelligence come from the suspicious transactions reports (or the STRs) submitted by reporting institutions to the financial intelligence unit (FIU) in Bank Negara Malaysia. Overall, the STR submissions had increased on average of 20% over the past 5 years. In terms of disclosure made to domestic law enforcement authorities (LEAs) and foreign FIUs, the numbers of proactive disclosures made had increased steadily over the past 3 years with an average increase of 33% annually.

In such a case, what at the very beginning could be perceived as a more relaxing financial environment that would provide a competitive priority, would soon leave the place to recycling of problems that were at the root of this crisis, decreased investors’ confidence and increased financial and social costs for recovery. Naturally, each country will adapt these standards to the degree of current financial system development, its composition and depth, as well as to its outlook. It is important to emphasise that these measures would be insufficient, if not accompanied by more general policies, aiming at diversifying sources that contribute to economic equilibrium growth, financing the economic agents, improving the legal framework of business development and following sound macroeconomic policies. Allow me now to deal with the situation of our financial system and share with you some stances, which we have generally discussed even previously. The stagnant situation of the financial system during the last year was dictated by the banking system performance, because of its weight. The rest of the financial system, represented by insurance companies and other non-bank financial institutions, underwent a good growth. Regardless of this, their share to the financial system remains low. The banking sector was faced with liquidity constraints in the last quarter of 2008 and in the first quarter of 2009.
As my colleagues Ben Broadbent and Gertjan Vlieghe have explained, downside risks to growth can be expected to increase the attractiveness of risk-free assets (gilts) relative to riskier assets (equities). See Vlieghe, G (2017), ‘Real interest rates and risk’; Also Broadbent, B (2014), ‘Monetary policy, asset prices and distribution’; 8 This might reflect that the sterling investment-grade corporate bond index includes a significant amount of issuers that are not UK-based and therefore not necessarily UK-focused. But internal analysis suggests that in recent years the spreads on sterling corporate bonds issued by UK-focused companies have tended to track the broader sterling investment-grade corporate bond market. 7  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  7  It seems unlikely that rates can be so persistently low without either weaker growth prospects or more uncertainty. In London’s West End Office markets, the picture is particularly stark. Even if the magic combination of persistently low rates and historically typical rental prospects comes true, valuation methodologies similar to those being developed by the industry point to prices 10% below today’s level. Precisely why these markets have become stretched is impossible to know for sure, but I’d caution against placing too much weight on monetary policy as the primary or underlying explanation. A range of underlying forces have driven down natural rates of interest, including demographics, perceived downside risks, expected productivity growth. 9  Monetary policy may have been a prominent actor, but it was reading a script set by these economic forces.

The evidence suggests that investors in funds which offer short notice redemptions and that invest in less liquid assets tend to redeem more in response to a downturn in the funds’ performance than those in more liquid funds. And the redemption behaviour of investors in bond funds seems to have become more sensitive as these markets have become less liquid. 19, 20  Drawing these developments together, it’s possible that just as corporate bond markets have become less liquid, they may have become susceptible to greater selling pressure after a shock. We may have more of a mismatch of liquidity. That could amplify any price adjustment. None of this is conclusive and serious problems have not been caused by this in the past. But we have a duty to take the possibility seriously – to ask ‘could it happen?’ With markets having evolved so much in the past decade, the absence of problems in the past is no guarantee for the future. That’s why we’ve been developing simulations of the impact of this liquidity mismatch. The asset management industry has been a constructive partner in this work. I hope we and this Centre can collaborate as we take this work forward. There is much more to do, but our initial work suggests a case for exploring further, including by incorporating a range of other investors into the simulations and assessing the impact not just on bond markets but on the wider economy. You can expect to hear more from us as these efforts develop.