samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
It accounts for around 25% of banks’ balance sheets and has a comparable share to GDP, while the bank – business relationships’ flow is present also in the field of other financial products and in the payment services. For this reason, your reaction against the shock should be decisive, courageous and visionary, as well as based on the spirit of collaboration and common long-term interests. Allow me to be more concrete in detailing the vision of the Bank of Albania on the challenges ahead. The first challenge is the facing of health emergency. The business and banking sector should 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  be clear that human capital is the most precious asset for every company. For this reason, any necessary measure to guarantee the health of the employees should not be considered as an expense, but as a strategic investment for the future of the firm. The second challenge is the revision of the business model and the increase of operational flexibility. One of the lessons of this crisis is that each of us can make more to adopt the information technology, to shift part of the business on line, and to increase the operational flexibility and efficiency. Putting into practice these lessons is particularly useful in case of the prolongation of the pandemic. The third challenge is maintaining liquidity and solvency of firms.

The reports, so far, show that more than 20.000 firms have benefited from this easing, who have a credit at banks which account for higher than EUR 2 billion. Also, we have temporary suspended the allocation of dividend by the banking sector, for the purpose of strengthening the capitalisation indicators of this sector. Dear guests, The reaction philosophy of the Bank of Albania is the mitigation of crisis consequences and the establishment of preconditions for a rapid recovery of the economy once the pandemic is overcome. In detailing this philosophy, we deem that: the safeguarding of the monetary and financial stability, and the minimisation of the negative effects of pandemic on our production capacities, are two crucial preconditions for the recovery. For this reason, the objective of our policies is the application of the right stimuli in timely manner, without prejudice in any moment to the monetary and financial stability of Albania. I am confident that both business community and the banking sector share this philosophy. 2. Business and banking sector in face of Covid-19 As I already emphasised, the Albanian business is facing a serious challenge to its future. This challenge has almost existential dimensions in certain segments. At the same time, the longterm soundness of banking sector is closely related with the soundness of business. Banking credit to firms is almost 4 times higher during the last two decades.
These are the best contributions the Bank of England can make to the good of the people of the United Kingdom. **************************** Ultimately, the prosperity of the UK will reflect not just the final Brexit arrangements but also the government’s fiscal and structural policies. The first speaker at this conference is the best placed to address these topics. It could, however, have been very different. As some of you may know, the Prime Minister began her career as a new graduate at the Bank before leaving after six years to pursue other interests – ultimately politics. Whilst at the Bank, the Prime Minister worked in the Economic Intelligence Department – then the cutting edge of our activities. During her time she accomplished great things and was destined for much more. Just imagine what could have become of your career, Prime Minister, if you had stayed at the Bank: you could have been in Fishmongers Hall…  5  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  5  Instead you came here by a road less travelled. Theresa May was elected as MP for Maidenhead in 1997, just as the Bank was getting to grips with its newfound monetary policy independence. She held a number of positions in the shadow cabinets of a string of opposition leaders and served as the Chair of the Conservative Party. After the formation of the coalition government in 2010, she would become the longestserving Home Secretary in over 60 years.

Opening remarks to the Bank of England ‘Independence – 20 years on’ Conference Remarks given by Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England  Bank of England ‘Independence – 20 years on’ Conference, Fishmongers’ Hall, London 28 September 2017  1  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  Welcome to this conference marking 20 years of independent monetary policy making in the UK. We are here because long and varied experience has shown that price stability is the best contribution monetary policy can make to the public good. High inflation hurts the least well off in society the most. It distorts price signals, inhibits investment, and ultimately damages the economy’s productive capacity. Equally, deflation imperils growth and employment, and, in the extreme, leads to financial ruin and economic collapse. The happy medium is low, stable and predictable inflation. A little inflation greases the wheels of the economy, and it gives monetary policy space to deliver better outcomes for jobs and growth when shocks hit. Recognising the value to society of price stability is one thing, delivering it is quite another. The Bad Old Days Prices were anything but stable during the 1970s and 80s. With the collapse of Bretton Woods in 1971, UK monetary policy lost its nominal anchor. There followed a series of botched experiments, with targets for incomes, monetary aggregates and the exchange rate.
The outlook is also bleak, for example in Germany, judging from reports in the last few days. The European Central Bank has reviewed its growth forecast for the euro region as a whole and now expects 1% GDP growth. According to this, growth will be zero in Germany, because it will be higher in various peripheral regions of Europe. Thus the economic policy tasks that need to be tackled in Iceland and the euro region have been different, and still are at the moment. On the other hand, central bank interest rates in Norway are 5.5% to cite a close industrialised neighbour. The Central Bank’s policy rate is now 2¾% in real terms, which is somewhat below the current assessment of the equilibrium interest rate. The Central Bank’s interest rates therefore act as a stimulus on the economy, being at their lowest level in real terms since spring 1996. It should also be borne in mind that interest rate changes affect demand and inflation with a considerable lag. Thus the impact of the extensive interest rate cuts in recent months is still being felt. The credit institutions’ required reserve with the Central Bank has been another of its monetary instruments, although the importance of this has diminished over the years. In recent years the Bank has been aiming to create operating conditions for credit institutions comparable to those in most other European countries, insofar as conditions permit. To this end, the Central Bank has been amending its rules in the past few years.

People must realise that the Central Bank exerts a limited long term impact on the exchange rate. The exchange rate depends on various economic factors, including foreign trade, foreign investment in Iceland and investment by Icelanders abroad, and last but not least expectations about future economic developments. For example, there is little doubt that expectations in connection with power-intensive industry have already influenced the exchange rate of the króna, which at present is stronger than if decisions on large-scale investment in aluminium production had not been announced. Interest rates certainly affect the exchange rate, but experience in Iceland and elsewhere shows that in the long run this impact tends to fade out if monetary policy aims for rate of inflation close to the prevailing rate among trading partner countries. Likewise, the Central Bank's foreign exchange market intervention tends to have only a short-lived effect. If the exchange rate is moving with a strong momentum in a certain direction, no central bank can resist this for long. This is a common experience of all countries that have liberalized international capital movements, which was also shared by the Central Bank of Iceland when it tried to stem the depreciation of the króna from mid 2000 until autumn 2001. Recent calls for the Central Bank to set an exchange rate target are unrealistic.
Stefan Ingves: Cross-border banking regulation – a way forward: the European case Speech by Mr Stefan Ingves, Governor of the Sveriges Riksbank, at the Conference on International Financial Instability: Cross-Border Banking and National Regulation, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Chicago, 16 October 2006. *  *  *  Introduction It is an honor for me to address this distinguished audience on a very timely topic. I have spent many years dealing with distressed banks in my own and by now a large number of other countries. One conclusion I have drawn from this rather odd line of work is that efficient banking regulation is needed both to reduce the risk that banks run into problems and to minimize the externalities that arise if banks actually fail. At the national level, many countries – including my own – still need to implement regulations to ensure that these risks are fully mitigated. Let me also take this opportunity to congratulate the organizers on their choice of subject for this conference. The importance of the international dimension of the regulatory set-up is growing steadily. It is only now that many banks are becoming truly cross-border, with substantial retail activities in several countries. At the same time banking regulation, in terms of supervision, oversight, deposit guarantee schemes and responsibility for financial stability, remains predominantly national. This imposes additional challenges for financial regulators. These challenges are particularly acute in Europe given the rapid growth of cross-border banks on that continent. However, the issues raised are of global concern.

Increased global engagement in Shariah matters among scholars, practitioners and regulators through international discussion platforms, together with the massive flow of knowledge, ideas, technology and people across borders also cumulatively foster a greater global understanding on the practices in Islamic finance. Innovation has fundamentally transformed the global financial landscape at a rapid pace and is undeniably a driver to sustain growth and to secure the competitive advantage of financial market participants. In the context of Islamic finance, the broadening of the frontier of product development can be further propelled by intensifying exploration, research and development initiatives and through intellectual discourse and engagements. It is duty-bound for us to continuously expand the dimensions of Islamic finance, hence contributing towards improving financial stability and economic prosperity in the interest of the local and global community. I am confident that this conference and the opportunities presented for deliberation on the research papers will be a fruitful one. I wish all delegates and participants a successful conference. With the lafaz Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim, it is my pleasure and honour to declare open the 2nd Foundations of Islamic Finance Series Conference. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3
While the outlook for the Maltese economy remains bright, we have to acknowledge that the external environment is becoming less supportive than we expected a year ago, or even three months ago. Some of the external downside risks flagged by the Bank in recent projection rounds have started to materialise. Global economic growth has become more diverse across regions, with soft indicators suggesting that global trade is losing the buoyancy seen in 2017. Partly in response to the less benign economic conditions abroad, activity has also softened in the euro area. The less favourable international environment partly reflects new restrictions on trade and the response of businesses’ capital spending plans. In late 2017 and also in the course of 2018, the United States introduced additional trade protectionist measures, which have been followed by a degree of retaliation. Although these actions mostly concern trade between the United States and China, the overall impact may be considerably broader once global value chains and the effects of uncertainty on private spending are taken into account. This assessment is broadly confirmed by the latest assessments published by the IMF in October, and by the OECD a week ago. Indeed, year-onyear growth in world trade has slowed to 3.2% in the first half of this year, from the relatively fast  Page | 2  growth of 5.0% recorded in 2017, while growth in container port traffic averaged 3.9% in the first nine months of this year, down from 6.5% in 2017.

The private sector is likely to maintain a high dependence on foreign workers. The latter, however, tend to stay for a relatively short period in Malta, which does not augur well for firms’ return on investment in human capital and productivity. It may also put at risk the competitiveness of our exports and job prospects to the extent that wages begin to increase faster than productivity. From this point of view, there is an urgent need to understand the factors behind the relatively short stay of foreign workers in Malta and devise solutions to this problem. A key factor that has been cited by firms and foreign workers alike is the recent rapid increase in rent in the private market, but there may be other reasons. The recently published White Paper on rent reform puts forward a number of proposals that should enable a better-informed assessment of the rental market in Malta and which seek to offer greater certainty and protection to landlords and tenants. With the public consultation on this subject now completed, we now look forward to the implementation of the proposed measures. Permit me at this point to note that the Central Bank is itself an employer of specialist foreign staff, thus we also speak on the basis of a direct feel for some of the problems they face.
Before I continue, let me give the usual disclaimer that the views I express are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) or anyone else in the Federal Reserve System. The Final Countdown I’ve spoken about the LIBOR transition many times before,1 but the message bears repeating, especially now that we’re only about six months away from moving off of LIBOR, once and for all. During this critical time, it’s important to focus on building a strong and robust foundation for the future so that we never have to go through a transition like this one again. That’s why when it comes to choosing a LIBOR replacement, you need to be confident that the rate you use is appropriate and will hold up even under stress. At the Financial Stability Oversight Committee (FSOC) meeting earlier this month, FSOC members highlighted risks around reference rates that share many of LIBOR’s shortcomings, such as being based on thinly-traded markets.2 The Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) studied this issue carefully and consulted thoroughly with the public, and recommended the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) as the main U.S. dollar reference rate for the post-LIBOR world.

Although the short-term interbank interest rates have come down to low levels very quickly, the interest rates for the 1-month maturity and beyond had stayed above 10% for a longer while. However, since mid-November the term interest rates have also eased steadily, with one month rate falling to 7.5% early this week. While some may regard the present levels of interest rates as too high and the correction in the stock market and property market too painful, they have missed a vital point when they put all the blame on the linked exchange rate system. This is because they have assumed, quite wrongly, that under a floating rate system, Hong Kong interest rates can stay constant or low compared with what they are under the linked exchange rate system. Moreover, they assume that the asset markets would have avoided the kind of sharp falls that we have experienced. This is an unrealistic assumption because the financial turmoil in our neighboring economies is a regional or even global problem from which Hong Kong cannot be immune. 4. It may be easier to explain my point by comparing Hong Kong with our neighboring economies. You are of course aware that the regional stock markets, including Hong Kong, have seen major corrections recently.
Let me start by saying that New Jersey is well-positioned to prosper. New Jersey is the 11th largest state – with a population of 8.8 million and this population is well-educated. Roughly 35 percent of adults over 24 years old have a college degree, well over the national average. Here in Morris County, that figure is almost 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  50 percent. The state is also quite ethnically diverse: roughly 20 percent of New Jersey residents were born abroad. The state’s economy is industrially diverse, resembling the nation. New Jersey employs many people in healthcare, professional and business services, wholesale and retail trade, and leisure and hospitality. In the northern part of the state, we see a disproportionate share of jobs in a few industries: finance, particularly in Hudson County; goods distribution, related to the ports, rail lines and trucking and warehousing activities that are prominent here; pharmaceuticals manufacturing and R&D; and private education. The area obviously benefits from its important links to New York City. In particular, many residents of this area, including myself, commute each day to the city. So how is the recovery proceeding here? Based on the New York Fed’s indices, economic activity in the state did not begin to recover until November 2010, more than a year after the nation and New York City. Since then, activity has recovered at a moderate pace, although we are still operating below our previous peak. Employment in New Jersey declined substantially during the downturn. Our employers cut about 250,000 jobs.

After that, I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have about what the Fed does and why, and about the economic outlook. As always, what I have to say reflects my own views and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve System or the Federal Open Market Committee, also known as the FOMC. What the new York Fed does By way of introduction, I will briefly review what my colleagues and I do at the New York Fed. The New York Fed is one of 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks that, together with the Board of Governors in Washington D.C., make up the Federal Reserve System, our nation’s central bank. The Federal Reserve is independent within government. By law, we are charged with managing the nation’s monetary policy – taking actions that raise or lower interest rates to promote full employment and price stability. The Federal Reserve is also charged with promoting financial stability, without which we cannot achieve our economic objectives. We play an important role in the nation’s payments and settlements system, which you might think of as the plumbing of the financial system. And we have a specific mandate to promote economic development in each of our regions. As president of the New York Fed, I serve as the vice chair of the FOMC, the Federal Reserve committee that meets eight times a year in Washington to set interest rates and make other decisions about monetary policy. The members of this committee all strive to achieve our statutory mandate.
11  The rising cost of Tier 2 debt owes, at least in part, to smaller banks issuing these instruments to comply with MREL resolution requirements. This factor may have had an important impact, given that MREL requirements are binding from 1 January 2022 and banks must reach the required levels. 12  The balance of bank deposits held by the resident private sector in Spain rose by 4.1% in 2021, compared with growth of 8.9% in 2020. In March 2022, deposits increased by 5.1% year-on-year, compared with rates of over 7% in the same month a year earlier. 13  In 2021, the cost of capital increased over the first ten months of the year, from 6.4% at December 2020 to 10.8% at October 2021, and then fell back over the last two months, standing at 8.1% at year-end. Thus, the average cost of capital for the full year was 8.8%, in any case below the sector’s ROE. 14  So far this year the cost of capital has continued to fall, to 7.3% in March and 6.9% in April, below the ROE for 2022 Q1 (11.7%). 15  The CET1 ratio and its denominator (risk-weighted assets (RWAs)) recorded similar declines (0.9% for CET1 and 1.1% for RWAs), so the ratio rose by barely 2 basis points (bp) to 13.3% at end-2021. 11  Indeed, at December 2021, the leverage ratio of Spain’s significant banks (5.7%) was only slightly below the European average (6%).

As a result of the normalisation of bank lending in 2021 that I mentioned earlier, and the start of the economic recovery, in the last stretch of 2021 the gap continued to correct, after widening at the onset of the pandemic. This process is expected to continue into the coming quarters, but the gap is still quite large. In this respect it is important to note that, against the backdrop of the crisis caused by the pandemic, the growth in the credit-to-GDP gap is associated with the sharp drop in GDP (the denominator in the credit-to-GDP ratio) in 2020 and with the measures taken to support the flow of credit to the economy (the numerator in the ratio), which drove its strong growth in that year. Accordingly, it does not reflect exuberant credit dynamics. Likewise, credit intensity and the debt service ratio, which are complementary indicators to identify cyclical risk, stand at moderate levels. Looking forward, our projections expect the credit-to-GDP gap to continue to correct in the coming quarters. Yet further acceleration in inflation and increasing downside risks to growth make for greater uncertainty. In particular, we need to ensure in the coming 4  Moreover, in the case of the loan-to-income (LTI) ratio, which measures the relationship between the mortgage principal and the borrower’s income at mortgage origination, the LTI ratios in most new mortgage loans were either low (LTI less than 3 times) or high (LTI over 4.5 times).