samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
AFA can also play an important role in driving higher standards of professionalism in the industry through the development and implementation of industry codes of conduct and ethics that are focused on the interests of clients. Well informed financial consumers The Bank is mindful that while great emphasis has been placed on the responsibility of financial service providers and intermediaries to ensure that the products recommended to consumers are appropriate to their needs, consumers are ultimately accountable for their own financial decisions. Our best efforts to improve the quality of and accessibility to financial advice would be incomplete without at the same time, equipping consumers with the knowledge, skills and tools to make informed financial decisions. These capabilities not only allow individuals to build, manage and preserve wealth, they are essential to help consumers protect themselves against poor market practices and to take appropriate actions when treated unfairly. Therefore, enhancing financial capability among Malaysians has been and will continue to be an important agenda of the Bank. Financial advisers have an important role in this effort given your unique vantage point as an objective adviser, and through the close relationships that are cultivated with your clients. We look to the industry to provide input and support to the Bank’s ongoing work to develop financial capability programmes that are tailored to the different key life stages of individuals from their days as a student, when they enter the workforce, when they start and raise a family, and in retirement.

But the investor base for any particular issue will be that much larger if secondary market liquidity is assured. The significance of developing domestic debt markets has been widely recognised elsewhere in this region too. It is perhaps something that is of special importance for countries where there is a clear advantage in expanding domestic financial intermediation in order to reduce dependence on external debt. Hong Kong has contributed to the APEC Compendium of Sound Practices for the development of debt markets, which covers such topics as regulation, transparency, risk control and so on. This will help guide the establishment of best-practice infrastructure for these markets, but that in itself is no guarantee that markets will actually mature. In general, however, the prospects for the further development of bond markets in the region in the new millennium look promising. From the point of view of international investors, exchange rates may also, of course, be a crucial element of the investment equation. They are certainly so for the trader or short-term investor. For long-term investors, however, the swings and roundabouts may even out; it could be argued that much of the movement of exchange rates reflects nominal impulses, which should not unduly affect long-run real returns. If one tries to predict exchange rates in pursuit of a winning investment strategy, one is likely to be as often disappointed as elated.
Our two 3-year lending operations, in particular, were effective in securing term funding for banking systems cut off from wholesale markets, and initially had a strong easing effect on sovereign spreads. Our interventions in sovereign bond markets under the Securities Markets Programme have also been found to have reduced yields and volatility in the countries targeted.2 And when redenomination risks spiked, the Outright Monetary Transactions announcements were extremely successful in removing unwarranted fears about a break-up of the euro area. Importantly for the credibility of the ECB, the legality of OMTs was confirmed on the highest judicial level by the European Court of Justice and also by national constitutional courts. Fortunately, around the same time as these measures were introduced, euro area leaders called on the Presidents of major European Institutions to develop a roadmap towards deepening Economic and Monetary Union.3 This has led to a marked improvement in the institutional environment, which has contributed both to an improved transmission of our policy and to a stronger recovery. In 2014, the Single Supervisory Mechanism was launched under the aegis of the ECB, which directly supervises the 129 significant banks in the euro area. In contrast to the earlier attempts to build confidence in the euro area banking sector, its founding act was to carry out a thorough and credible asset quality review and stress test of bank’s balance sheets.

Luis M Linde: “The New Hegemon or Last Country Still Standing” Speech by Mr Luis M Linde, Governor of the Bank of Spain, at the Frankfurt Finance Summit 2014, Panel IV: The New Hegemon or Last Country Still Standing, Frankfurt am Main, 20 May 2014. *  *  *  As a result of the crisis, the institutional and intellectual setup of European Monetary Union is being deeply revised. Fresh views on the role of stability across several dimensions – including fiscal and macro-financial – have emerged and taken over the old approach of the Maastricht Treaty. Several players, including, indeed, the ECB, are contributing to this overhaul. I would like to review the main elements of the old institutional setup, the weaknesses revealed by the crisis and the way a reinforced culture of stability is contributing to their repair. The monetary union designed in Maastricht included, in addition to the ECB and the single monetary policy, a relatively loose governance framework for the euro area based, first, on a fiscal discipline device – the Stability and Growth Pact – and, second, on coordination for the remaining economic policies – the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines –. The setup also relied on governments, households and firms being able to internalise the stability patterns required within a monetary union and counted on financial markets penalising those who would not do so.
The correction of asset prices and the economic contraction following this international global financial crisis has been on an unprecedented scale. Islamic finance is therefore confronted with the risks associated with these second round effects that need to be managed. This recent financial market turmoil in the advance economies also demonstrated the consequences of liquidity constraints. This has underscored the importance of a strong and well developed liquidity management infrastructure. An important aspect that needs to be urgently addressed in the Islamic financial industry is the need to enhance the ability of Islamic financial institutions to manage liquidity. This requires the development of Shariah compliant financial instruments that facilitate this and a well internationally functioning market infrastructure to facilitate cross border management of liquidity, so that liquidity risks are effectively managed. Malaysia has, for more than a decade now, an efficient functioning Islamic money market which has accorded greater monetary flexibility in the Islamic financial system. While the market is in domestic currency, it has drawn wider participation from the international financial community. As part of the global collaborative efforts to enhance the efficiency of Islamic financial institutions in managing liquidity at both national and across borders, a Liquidity Management Task Force was established by the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) early this year to develop a liquidity management framework. Integral to the efforts in the development of Islamic finance, is also the strengthening of the regulatory and supervisory framework.

Mervyn King: Monetary policy developments Speech by Mr Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, to the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet, Birmingham, 23 January 2007. *  *  *  Lord Mayor, Lady Mayoress, President, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Two weeks ago your Chamber of Commerce called on the Bank of England to take manufacturing more seriously when it sets interest rates. In arguing against an interest rate rise, the Birmingham Chamber said, “we would urge the Bank of England to once again consider the effects this will have on the beleaguered manufacturing sector”. It will not have escaped your attention that Bank Rate did rise in January and has now increased by 75 basis points since the beginning of August. So tonight I want to explain why the Monetary Policy Committee took that action, and why the Bank believes that the control of inflation is essential for the success of Birmingham – and all British – manufacturing. Last week we learnt that inflation, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index, was 3% in December, the highest level since the Monetary Policy Committee was set up almost ten years ago. If it rises by one further decimal point to 3.1%, I shall have to write an open letter to the Chancellor explaining why inflation has risen to more than one percentage point above the target of 2%, and what measures the Committee are taking to bring inflation back to target.
Such high growth may prove surprising given our economy’s shortcomings or weaknesses: a much lower level of educational attainment than other European countries, low capital stock, inferior technology and labour institutions which, as we shall see, do not generate the incentives needed to enhance individual and collective efficiency. Why, despite this, have we grown so much? Partly because we made more progress than the other countries in some areas, which has offset our relative shortcomings. First, the relative weight of our public sector is much lower than that of the other European countries. Consequently, the greater weight of the private sector accounts for the greater dynamism of our economy. Next, public spending has been decentralised in a manner akin to Germany after World War II, and, to date, that has allowed greater efficiency in the allocation of spending. Further, we have also been bolder than other countries in privatisation. In recent decades there have been many significant privatisations in practically all productive sectors, allowing us to push ahead more than other economies in infusing competition into many goods and services markets. Unlike in other countries, privatisation has been wholesale, which is essential for breaking the link between corporations and governments. Finally, up to 2007 Spain managed notable progress in terms of balancing public finances and reducing public debt. All these aspects might be viewed as some of the inherent virtues of the Spanish economy, which account for much of our favourable growth differential over the past 20 years.

Decisions on the pace of asset purchase and forward guidance must be based on what is most appropriate to achieve our dual mandate objectives of maximum sustainable employment in a context of price stability. Economic outlook Let’s dig a bit deeper into the tug-of-war between improving fundamentals and the drag exerted by fiscal policy and tighter financial conditions. Starting with the improving underlying fundamentals, one important aspect is the household sector and its balance sheet. In a number of dimensions, households have made significant progress in repairing their finances. Prior to the recession, households took on an excessive amount of debt – much in the form of residential mortgages. The process of deleveraging and reducing this debt overhang is now well advanced. For example, household debt relative to disposable income has declined substantially since it peaked in the third quarter of 2007,  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  bringing it back to levels last seen in early 2003. Delinquency rates on mortgages, auto loans and credit cards continue to decline. In addition, household wealth relative to disposable income has recovered from the steep decline following the crisis and is now near its 20-year average. Reflecting this improvement, credit standards are beginning to ease, which should support consumer spending on durable goods. Another sector in which the fundamentals have improved is the housing sector. Most importantly, the excess supply of housing created during the boom appears to have been largely worked off.
GDP posted lower annual growth than in the first quarter, but with a configuration where natural-resource-related sectors —particularly mining— showed less favorable performance while other GDP changed little, if anything. The total consumption component of demand continued to grow at around 2.5% in annual terms, while investment posted positive growth, boosted by specific factors associated with imports of machinery and equipment. On the other hand, during the second quarter investment in construction and other works showed a sharper than expected fall, with a still weak real estate sector (figure 8). In this context, this Report’s baseline scenario assumes that GDP will rise between 1.5% and 2.0% this year, considering that the information reviewed for the first half of the year brings no surprise with respect to our June projections. For 2017, a range is projected for GDP between 1.75% and 2.75%, down from expectations in June. Our forecast for 2017 GDP puts in in the 1.75% to 2.75% range, less than we expected in June. Domestic demand minus inventories should post a modest recovery in 2017: 2.1% annually, after growing 1.5% in 2016. In any case, we have upgraded our growth projection for this year from June, because we now estimate a smaller decrease of gross fixed capital formation, in particular because of the performance of the machinery and equipment item in the second quarter. However, this is partly offset by the expected annual fall in construction and other works, where a debilitated real estate sector stands out.

Under the chairmanship of Ben Bernanke, all 12 Federal Reserve Bank presidents, together with the sitting governors of the Federal Reserve Board, have input into the decision-making process. There is a formal vote – regardless of who is the Fed chair – that includes only five of the 12 regional Bank presidents plus the governors, but all of the principals seated at the table participate fully in the discussion of what to do. And yet, either because we will effect a change in the chairmanship starting in February or because at the last meeting we took the step of tapering back by a small amount our massive purchase of Treasuries and MBS, great attention is being placed on the voters for 2014, of which I am one. Two comments I recently read have been buzzing around my mind as I think about the many issues that will condition my actions as a voter. 1  “It’s Alright”, words and music by Waylon Jennings, copyright Waylon Jennings Music, 1980. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Beer goggles … The first was by Peter Boockvar, who is among the plethora of analysts offering different viewpoints that I regularly read to get a sense of how we are being viewed in the marketplace.
Øystein Olsen: The conduct of monetary policy Introductory statement by Mr Øystein Olsen, Governor of Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway), at the hearing before the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs of the Storting (Norwegian parliament), Oslo, 4 May 2015. *  *  *  Please note that the text below may differ from the actual presentation. Accompanying charts can be found at the end of the speech or on the Norges Bank’s website. I would like to thank the Chair of the Committee for this opportunity to report on the conduct of monetary policy. My introduction here today is based on Norges Bank’s Annual Report for 2014 and our monetary policy assessments up to the monetary policy meeting in March. Chart: Inflation and projected capacity utilisation Monetary policy in Norway is oriented towards keeping inflation low and stable. The operational target is consumer price inflation of close to 2.5 percent over time. The inflation target provides the economy with a nominal anchor. Inflation has edged up in recent years and hovered around 2.5 percent through 2014. When inflation expectations are firmly anchored, monetary policy can serve as the first line of defence when the economy turns down. Monetary policy seeks to be robust and takes into account the risk of particularly adverse economic outcomes. The goal is to avoid an abrupt economic downturn and higher unemployment. In the event of major shocks, for instance a sharp drop in oil prices, this may imply a more active monetary policy than normal.

Eventually, a draft European regulation currently under discussion could partially replace the French framework with a harmonised European statute and thus promote the development of cross-border transactions. As regards Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), which enable start-ups to raise crypto asset funds very rapidly, their flows in France are still small (EUR 71.7 million during the first three quarters of 2018, 0.5% of the world total) but are booming (4 times higher than in 2017)4. The legislative framework, in preparation, will provide valuable benchmarks for investors, and is likely to increase their confidence in the mechanisms associated with crypto assets and thus promote their development. B. In the longer term, the objective should be to strengthen capital to finance innovation In an economy close to the “technological frontier", as is the case in France, the key to growth lies in business innovation, and therefore in equity financing in the long term: as innovation is more risky, financing it must yield greater rewards. However, in France, household savings are only modestly invested in equity products, and this is reflected in corporate financing. [Slide 2] There is a significant contrast between the United States and France, where corporate equity accounts for 122% and 77% of GDP respectively. From this point of view, France is not different from the rest of the euro area with the exception of Germany (80%). What are the solutions?
In order to overcome the possible communication problems associated with this uncertainty, we have announced that we will monitor the effects of our decisions from both price stability and financial stability perspectives, and do not hesitate to implement additional measures if necessary. Although it looks quite complicated at first sight, the framework we adopt in spirit is not significantly different from the conventional inflation targeting framework. The only difference is that, previously our policy instrument was the one week repo rate, but now our instrument is a “policy mix” – which consists of a combination of short term interest rates, reserve requirement ratios and interest rate corridor. We seek to use these instruments in the right  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  combination in order to cope with both inflation and macro-financial risks. The monetary policy stance in this framework is not only determined by the path of policy rates, but as a mixture of all the policy instruments, as I just mentioned. Just like the conventional inflation targeting framework, the policy is forward looking and contingent on economic outlook. The course of the policy mix in the forthcoming period will depend on the factors affecting price stability and financial stability. In sum, we are going through a period in which central banks policies have to be creative in dealing with the “new normal”. However, it is also important to consider country specific features in designing these strategies.

Unconventional monetary policy measures, including large-scale purchases of government securities, were necessary to deliver effective market rates negative enough to mitigate globally deficient demand. In the UK, forward guidance supplemented such measures, ensuring households and firms could be confident that interest rates would not be raised prematurely, helping to secure the nascent recovery. 4  See Rachel, L and Smith, T (2015), “Secular drivers of the global real interest rate”, Bank of England Working Paper No. 571. BIS central bankers’ speeches  9  Central banks have also purchased other assets – in some cases using small-scale programmes to alleviate specific cases of market dysfunction, and, in others, larger ones to inject greater stimulus into the economy. By deploying a broad range of ammunition, the economy has been stimulated through a number of channels. Lower policy rates brought forward consumption to today from spending tomorrow – the real interest rate channel. The all-in costs of borrowing were lowered, boosting existing borrowers’ spending power – the cash flow channel. And lower funding costs for banks increased the availability of credit – the credit channel. Lower discount rates and portfolio balance effects supported asset prices – the wealth channel. Currencies’ values fell, boosting competitiveness – the exchange rate channel. And determined central bank action and forward guidance put a floor under inflation expectations and bolstered sentiment – the confidence channel. In this way, central bank actions combatted the worst global downturn since the Great Depression.
In general, it can be observed that many people, particularly in the financial markets, put a lot of effort into making forecasts for the repo rate. If we can contribute to reducing uncertainty over how we ourselves view the future, this should be positive for everyone. Manageable difficulties But of course there are also some difficulties that need to be managed when a central bank presents its own forecast of the interest rate path. As you know, the Riksbank’s monetary policy decisions are taken by an Executive Board consisting of six people. While the decisions we make concern the level of the repo rate applying until the next monetary policy meeting, we must also agree on what we consider to be a reasonable development for the repo rate throughout the forecast period. There may, of course, be occasions when the members of the Executive Board have different opinions. For  6  See Jansson, P., and A. Vredin, (2004), ”Preparing the Monetary Policy Decision in an Inflation Targeting Central Bank: The Case of Sveriges Riksbank”, in the conference volume Practical Experiences With Inflation Targeting, Czech National Bank, Woodford, M. (2005), “Central-Bank Communication and Policy Effectiveness”, essay presented at a symposium organised by FRB Kansas City ‘The Greenspan Era: Lessons for the Future’, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 25-27 August and Faust, J., and D. W. Henderson, (2004), “Is Inflation Targeting Best-Practice Monetary Policy?”, Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis Review, 86(4), 117-143.

In the long term, there are of course more factors than expected monetary policy which are significant for interest rates. Although we have as yet only had time to present one repo rate forecast, there has been no sign that the market has become “passive”. On the contrary, it has become clear that we and other market agents have had slightly differing views as to what would be a reasonable future development for the repo rate. In a way, this is a good sign. It is in the nature of things that forecasters make different forecasts, particularly in the slightly longer term. That it how it is when one works with economic forecasting. Our assessment is therefore that any difficulties arising from the new assumption are manageable. But different types of interest rate assumption also make different demands on our communication. One important aspect of what the publication of our own interest rate path means is our method of signalling. Signalling Let me therefore go on to talk about the Riksbank’s signalling. By this I mean, quite simply, how we communicate our monetary policy intentions. In brief, the Riksbank’s practice can be described as follows. Between the monetary policy meetings the individual members of the Executive Board have often held speeches on the theme of "the current situation" or similar. In these speeches we have given our views on economic developments and sometimes also indicated, with varying degrees of explicitness, how we consider the interest rate should be set at the next meeting.