samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Daiwa’s FTSE Shariah Japan 100 ETF is therefore well placed to meet the growing demand for Shariah compliant financial solutions. This listing adds to the range of ETF and Shariah compliant products in Singapore, and provides a direct channel for investing in Japan. Trade and investment between Japan and the Middle East are increasing, and will continue to rise in the coming years. The flow of finance and investment capital will rise to  BIS Review 67/2008  1  complement these. Japan which has the second largest economy in the world has much to offer to promote the flow of capital, ideas and technology. I am pleased that investors and financial institutions like Daiwa have found Singapore a useful node to facilitate this flow between Japan and the Middle East. We will, on our part, continue to facilitate this deepening of business and financial relations. On that note, let me extend my heartiest congratulations to Daiwa Asset Management and the Singapore Exchange for embarking on this venture. We look forward to its success and the creation of more innovative investment products from Daiwa Asset Management and other financial institutions to add to the vibrancy of our market. Thank you. 2  BIS Review 67/2008

This is why French law imposes on banks to provide a specific offer for these clients, comprising minimal services with reduced fees of 3 euros per month. To follow up on the implementation of this provision, an Observatory for Banking Inclusion was created in France. Chaired by the Governor of Banque de France, it brings together public authorities, NGOs and banks and has proved to be a very helpful forum. A second example is the “Mediator of Credit” function. Led by an official of Banque de France, it is aimed at small businesses and it relies on the operational support of the local branches of Banque de France. Its objective is to help entrepreneurs who have been refused a loan by providing mediation with their banks and creditors to overcome these financing difficulties. 20.000 successful mediations have taken place since the creation of that function in 2008. This mediation function does not just provide financing: it also reduce the risk of bankruptcy for the companies which benefit from it. Another contribution of Banque de France to improving acces for fragile populations takes the form of support to assisted microcredit activities. Banque de France is a strong supporter of these activities through funding of a credit guarantee fund (5 million euros in 2018) and the development of a local networks of correspondents. To help preventing inequalities of treatment, Banque de France is involved in preventing and addressing household over-indebtedness issues.
Secondly, the advances in technology has led to a proliferation of financial products and services. There needs to be a greater understanding of the basic concepts and practices of banking, insurance and equity so as to know how to make choices from the wide range of financial products available, and to assess the respective risks, costs and returns. Also important is the basic principles of debt management, wealth management and personal budgeting to be able to understand the importance of long-term savings in funding future requirements. Financial literacy involves being able to identify and understand the opportunities for income generation, access to funding, and learning how to make the most of the range of financial products  2  BIS Review 64/2004  available. It also involves learning how to manage financial risks in an environment where the financial infrastructure may be under developed. This may relate to the laws and procedures in the country. Also important is the need to be able to recognize illegal schemes and other exploitative practices such as predatory lending. Thirdly, while women in Asia are being less stereotyped and given greater opportunities for entering into the economic mainstream, nonetheless the working conditions for women in many countries have tended to be less favourable. The exploitation of labour in the informal sector in some instances are particularly bad, not only for women, but also for children and minority groups. Women who are disadvantaged in this manner have found it difficult to escape from the trap of indebtedness.

The increase in the relative significance of the financial sector in most Asian economies can be seen in terms of the momentum in the financialisation of savings and the increase in the volume of financial transactions being conducted through the formal financial sector. These trends are being reinforced by the shift of activities that is taking place from the traditional sectors to the industrial and services sectors. On average, the industrial and services sector now accounts for 74% of the economy in Asia, compared to 60% in 1980. In contrast, agriculture now accounts for 12%, compared to 26% in 1980. Involved in this transformation, women have demonstrated a high degree of mobility, participating in all segments of economic activity. Most discernable is the increasing participation of women in the services sector. Here in Hong Kong, the percentage of women in the services sector relative to the total population increased from 43% in 1980 to 87% in 1999. Similarly in Indonesia, the rise was from 32% to 42%, and in Malaysia, it was from 33% to 57% and in Thailand, from 18% to 34%. In Asia, the demographic structure also reinforces the economic potential of Asia. The population in Asia continues to grow at a relatively high and stable rate to account for more than half the world’s population. Of significance is the relatively young demographic structure in Asia. More than 50% of women fall in the age group 15 to 49 years, similar to that for men.
At the same time, more and more conventional investors are also looking to diversify their portfolios into sukuk as a new asset class. So, issuing sukuk would enable fund-raisers to enjoy a wider and more diverse investor base. 20. Second, you would be able to diversify your funding sources. With the additional option of sukuk in your arsenal, you can choose to issue either conventional bonds or sukuk, depending on the pricing and liquidity in the market at the time of issuance. This would provide more flexibility and a more stable source of funding to fund-raisers, particularly at a time when the funding cost of sukuk is more attractive than that of conventional bonds or when there is difficulty in obtaining liquidity in certain markets. 21. Having said that, sukuk remain a relatively new product type in Hong Kong’s financial market. Some of you may have questions about the mechanics of sukuk, such as what would be suitable underlying assets, how to ensure Shariahcompliance, etc. Malaysia’s experience has clearly shown that there are readily available solutions to address these issues. In particular, while sukuk are assetbased, a number of different sukuk structures are available. So, for companies that do not have much fixed assets, some asset-light sukuk structures may be utilised to  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  overcome issues concerning availability of tangible assets. I am certain that the experts present here today will be able to provide more guidance and address such questions in detail in later sessions. Concluding remarks 22.

Now I know it hasn't felt like that for everyone - particularly for internationally exposed businesses and their employees and for the regions in which such businesses are more heavily concentrated including the West Midlands with its relatively high concentration of manufacturing businesses. I am well aware that many of them - perhaps many of you - have been having a rough time over the past few years. 2  BIS Review 53/2002  Although the UK economy as a whole managed to avoid recession, UK manufacturing output fell from a peak nearly two years ago by around 7% and employment in UK manufacturing fell by 225,000 people, or some 6%. To put that into perspective, manufacturing output fell from peak to trough over much the same period by over 16% in Japan, by 7½% in the US and by 6½% in Germany; and manufacturing employment fell by 7¼% in Japan, 9½% in the US and nearly 3% in Germany. So the pressures on manufacturing were not confined to, nor did they originate in this country. There are two main reasons for the pressures on the internationally-exposed sectors of our economy. The first is the weakness of much of the global economy as a result of the Asia crisis and its aftermath in the late 1990's, and then, more recently, as a result of the sharp, synchronised, slowdown in the major industrial countries - as reflected in the figures I've just given you.
Waves of financial innovations from new players, but also from incumbents on the market, create massive changes in the financial industry. In this light, the highlight of the conference is embracing changes, that is opening doors to financial innovations in the payment landscape, while preventing disruptions to the financial markets and to the overall financial stability. New wave of digitalization can have wide ranging positive effects on the economy – it spurs innovation and productivity, transforms public and private services, contribute to higher financial inclusion by reaching underserved households and overall, improve wellbeing of the society as information, knowledge and data become more widely available. Benefits go hand in hand with challenges to jobs and skills needed, to taxation, financial markets, and invite new thinking on how to preserve fundamentals such as privacy and security, as well as how to preserve monetary and financial stability. Financial innovations, underpinned by digitalization, have a potential to gradually reshape the financial sector. “The Pulse of Fintech” report of KPMG1 shows that Fintech investment globally more than doubled during 2018, and reached $ billion. In addition, while new startups sprouted across emerging fintech subsectors, highly mature areas like payments saw some consolidation through mergers and acquisitions of big developed players. Reports also show that highest number of fintech service providers are in the payments, clearing and settlement category, thus, giving them the potential to gradually undertake a paradigm shift in the payment landscape.

Nevertheless, there is much that the government can do to facilitate financial-market development by clearing the way, particularly where this involves markets of a regional nature. Three areas of work in which the HKMA – with various partners – is taking an active role are worth citing here. The first involves the gradual introduction and expansion of renminbi business within Hong Kong, which requires primarily co-operation between the Mainland and Hong Kong authorities at various levels, including both political and technical. The second example is our collaboration with other central banks in the region, under the auspices of EMEAP, on the Asian Bond Fund, which is intended not just to encourage business in the debt market, but also to stimulate regulatory reforms in economies in the region. The third example is our work in encouraging the development of Islamic finance in Hong Kong, through ensuring a level playing field, stimulating interest in Hong Kong among Islamic countries, encouraging product development, and raising market awareness within Hong Kong, particularly through the educational work of the Treasury Markets Association. All of this work looks both to the past and to the future for inspiration. Looking to the past, we have the still-recent experience of the Asian financial crisis, one element of which was the undeveloped state of some of our financial markets, in particular the debt market. Many of the market-development initiatives on which we have been working have been intended to address these deficiencies.
On our current reform-resistant course, I see a distant but distinct probability that growth in the euro area begins a secular downward drift. With inflexible markets, downswings are likely to deeper, as adjustment has to happen slowly through quantities – i.e. unemployment – rather than quickly prices. And with low productivity and investment, upswings might be shallower as growth is driven only by cyclical rather than structural factors. Indeed, most estimates find that potential growth in the euro area has diminished during the crisis. This is why moving ahead with structural reform is essential. The best way to raise real growth in the euro area is to open up product and services markets and to reallocate resources to the most productive industries. When I see that most countries in the euro area  6  BIS central bankers’ speeches  periphery have a revealed comparative advantage in services,7 and yet these markets are the least integrated in Europe, it strikes me as a missed opportunity. Implementing structural reforms is of course mainly a national responsibility. But so far we have not done enough at the European level to help gather momentum behind them. Some might argue that the European elections will make this harder still, but I would tend to disagree. First, the reasons for extremism in some countries have more to do with national governments than with Europe.

It would be foolish to declare categorically that the Bank of England has eliminated stigma or moral hazard. But we can say that these regulatory reforms have made it easier for the Bank of England to provide liquidity insurance to solvent institutions. In turn, this has allowed us to increase the availability and flexibility of our liquidity facilities and to give more clarity around the circumstances under which that insurance would be provided. These changes should help to reduce the stigma attached to the use of central bank liquidity facilities, and encourage earlier take-up to limit contagion and protect financial stability during future crises. 4  See Hume (1758). 5  See Carney (2013) and Shafik (2015). 6  See Hauser (2014) and Tucker (2014). 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3. Are sovereigns like banks? Attention more recently has turned to sovereign rather than banking vulnerabilities and two issues in particular have brought this into sharper focus. First, do fundamentally sound emerging market economies have access to the right form of liquidity insurance to deal with the challenges posed by lower growth, falling commodity prices and potential spillovers from the possible exit of exceptional monetary policy in advanced economies? And second, how can we manage the tension between the need to recognise when one sovereign’s debt has become unsustainable and the need to avoid contagion across countries in times of stress? There are many ways in which sovereigns are like banks in terms of the liquidity risks they face.
The agreed wage increases came out at an average of around 3.5 per cent a year during the agreement period 1995-1997, while the average rate of wage increase was just over 5 per cent. The increase in productivity during the same period was 1.8 per cent a year. Wage development was thus scarcely compatible with the inflation target of 2 per cent. At the same time, open unemployment remained high. During the wage agreement period 1995-1997 open employment was over 8 per cent. The bargaining rounds in 1995 cannot therefore be considered a success from the economy's point of view. In 1998 it was time for the next round of central wage agreement bargaining. By then CPI inflation had fallen. The Riksbank also raised its repo rate at the end of 1997, partly due to the risk of rising wage inflation. The 1998 bargaining round took place during the aftermath of the Asia crisis, while the krona appreciated significantly, which probably had a subduing effect on wage demands in the export industry. These negotiations entailed the herald of a new "Saltsjöbaden spirit" in the Swedish labour market with the signing of the 1997 Industrial Agreement by twelve employers' associations and seven  BIS Review 63/2002  1  1  trade unions in industry. The Industrial Agreement, which covered approximately 600 000 employees and ran for a period of three years, was meant to provide a foundation for a good wage development by promoting industrial development, profitability and competitiveness.

There is a risk that the shortages we see in the labour market, and which clearly motivate wage increases for certain professional groups, lead to an inflationary rate of wage increase. It is therefore important for the Riksbank to analyse the supply side of the labour market. So far there is mainly a shortage of persons with certain healthcare training and of teachers in science and technical subjects. In the longer term, however, a lower supply of labour is expected and an increase in demand. The population increase that Sweden has experienced during the 1990s will gradually decline and with 13 effect from 2010 growth in the working population will be negative. The large population growth among the younger and older age categories risks reducing labour force participation, as these age groups generally have a lower participation than average. In addition, there is a proposal for shorter working hours with effect from 2004, which risks reducing the labour supply measured in hours even further. Wage development during the forecast period  Over the past year employment has developed at a surprisingly strong rate, despite the subdued demand in the economy. The labour force reserve should be regarded as small, if one uses the registered labour force as a measure. The percentage of unemployed and persons in labour market policy programmes amounted to 6.7 per cent in September.
I would like to start this part by stressing the importance of the dialogue with market participants. The constructive discussions with bank managers serve two purposes. The commercial bankers know and  2  BIS Review 63/2001  in their own way understand both the market situation and the prevailing trends in the so-called "real economy". Thus, these regular discussions are most welcome complement to the economic analysis by central bank experts. But the regular contacts provide also a unique channel for moral suasion, for explaining central bank's concerns and in some occasions, possibilities to put pressure on managerial choices. Obviously, these contacts are easy to arrange in a small country like Estonia. We have made use of that opportunity and established dialogue with our financial sector on financial as well as on general economic issues, both on regular as well as on ad hoc basis. What we should do more is to have more in-depth contacts with the main strategic partners of our banks. The other essential, albeit specific element for crisis prevention is the pre-emptive involvement of the private sector in crisis resolution. I would like to point out two simple but effective principles that we have relied upon. Firstly, the completely free movement of capital, both long and short term, has increased the credibility of our financial policy and, thus, encouraged strategic partners to take much longer term approach to their investments. That has by now resulted in a full integration of our banks into Scandinavian markets.

All these assets are in relatively scarce supply in EU accession countries with ten years of independent banking history. However, we have got a few initial building blocks in place. We have looked at our banking data in the light of the very recent IMF research and were encouraged that our statistics covers the key indicators fairly well. Secondly, we have dedicated significant resources to improve our analytical skills over the last couple of years. And finally, we have had an encouraging experience on stress testing during the FSAP mission last year, although the approach was simple. Against that background, we will give considerable attention already this year to further upgrade of financial system analysis and we are looking forward to cooperate in that respect with our friends in Europe as well as in Washington. IV. Safety nets: crisis prevention  From here, I would like to proceed to the other major challenge for the central bank – to build up financial safety net. We know that a full-fledged financial safety net consists of two major pillars: crisis prevention and crisis resolution. Efficient analysis is a sine qua non for every effort to prevent financial difficulties. Of course, we have the problem that all models tend to be perfect in forecasting the past while their predictive power is unknown at best. Therefore, our concern is how to build a network of institutions that would minimize the risk of a sudden shock.
MAS as central bank, integrated supervisor, and financial sector promoter Those of you who have visited Singapore might have come across one of the highlights of our architectural heritage – the black and white colonial bungalows. Combining British aesthetic sensibilities with local adaptations to a tropical climate, these former colonial residences exude stately elegance while offering cool, airy comfort come monsoon rain or equatorial shine. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) itself operates out of a decidedly functional office block. Thankfully, the work that the MAS does is rather more interesting. •  MAS houses under one roof central banking, financial surveillance, and integrated supervision. •  MAS is also responsible for developing a sound and progressive financial centre. MAS’ single agency model sets us apart from other financial regulators. Many jurisdictions operate on what is commonly known as the twin peaks model of regulation. Under this model, separate agencies have responsibilities for prudential oversight and market conduct respectively. Prudential oversight is concerned principally with the safety and soundness of institutions while market conduct is focused on effective functioning of markets and consumer protection. Australia, Canada, and the UK are among the leading jurisdictions with twin peaks regulators. Like the black and white bungalows, MAS’ unique mandate of central bank, integrated supervisor, and promoter of financial sector development, was born partly out of circumstance.

CBSL is the banker to the Govt. When market collusion does not enable the Govt., to borrow at reasonable rates, CBSL has to take treasury bills which inflating financing, as it compels CBSL to issue reserve money into the system which has multiple effects in increasing money supply and liquidity in the system. Primary dealers, specially the banks,  BIS Review 55/2007  3  have a responsible role to play in this regard and be mindful of unusually high bidding and its repercussions on the whole economy. 5. Investors and the business sector  One way of beating inflation is to enhance productivity. Improvements to the factor productivity should be introduced using improved technology and higher productivity methods. Investing in technology today will not only increase productivity but also help lowering product prices. They may have to look for foreign collaboration, joint ventures and partnerships if additional funding and technical skills are not available within the country. They should also facilitate investments outside the Western province and promote regional development and employment generation in outstations while using factors of production available in such areas. Businesses and investors have many opportunities under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) program. Given the Govt.’s commitment to commence large infrastructure projects during this year and some in 2008, the private investors and businesses could contribute to the development process, in particular, by participating in infrastructure projects through PPPs. It will help reduce financing of capital expenditure by the Govt.