samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
These properties would provide supporting evidence of the economic reasonableness of the calibration. And it would provide assurance that the package is serving its policyholder protection purpose. In particular, as MA portfolios become more diverse then a question arises as to whether the assets currently backing a book of business are assets that another party would be able and willing to take as funding. To achieve a material reduction in the level and sensitivity of the current risk margin, the PRA considers it necessary for the design of the MA to appropriately reflect uncertainty around future credit risk experience that would likely be reflected in any transfer price. The FS is the key determinant as to the amount of any expected future investment profit firms can recognise upfront. A calibration of the FS that is too low exposes firms to risk that this future investment profit does not emerge in practice and the associated implications this would have on their ability to meet their liabilities as they fall due. A successful outcome of the Solvency II review will be DB scheme members, trustees and insurance policyholders having long-term confidence in the resilience of the insurance sector, and in the security of their benefits. Page 9  Conclusions and next steps Solvency II has only been in force for around six years, but we have already learnt a lot. Particularly in respect of the relationship between the regulatory framework and firms’ business models.

Whilst we would not expect all assets to achieve the same MA, these disparities do give rise to questions as to the extent to which MA benefit is excessively influencing investment choices: and whether those behaviours are prudent and delivering the best outcome for the UK economy. Furthermore – Chart 5 shows a relatively small proportion of firms’ asset holdings are driving the majority of their MA benefit[4]. Whilst firms are expected have a diverse range of assets matching their liabilities, this raises the question of whether the current MA framework adequately captures the risks and uncertainties associated with the unique and innovative assets that tend to be the most MA-efficient. Naturally, investment in new asset types with some bespoke and novel features raises new and important questions for the prudential regulator: Do firms have the right risk management capabilities and the governance to apply them rigorously and robustly? Is the regulatory solvency regime suitable for them or is a square peg being forced to fit a round hole? The PRA has always focused on ensuring that investments in these new asset types do not break the link between risk exposures and their valuation and capital requirements. The most notable example of this is the extensive work we have undertaken on Equity Release Mortgages. The assessment of valuation and risk in assets with more bespoke features inherently requires more judgement, and relies much more on firms’ own internal assumptions and much less on public information. Firms argue that they are good at making these assessments.
Its level of linguistic complexity is 5 years lower than the Inflation Report, making it accessible to around 14 million more people, or around a quarter of the adult population. A third example is the Bank’s flagship publication, the Inflation Report. In November, the Bank for the first time published the Report in three layers: Layer 3 was the usual “50 page, 50 chart” version; Layer 2 was the “1-2 page, 1-2 chart” version; and Layer 1 was the “1 line, 1 chart” version. With a level of complexity more than 6 years below Layer 3, Layers 1 and 2 in principle could reach an extra 21 million people. Early evidence suggests this layering has helped in reaching a broader audience. Website hits on the November Inflation Report were double the average from earlier quarters. These extra hits were entirely accounted for by Layers 1 and 2, while Layer 3 hits were essentially unchanged. This suggests that layering has enabled the MPC to reach a new, wider audience without cannibalising its existing audience. 42  Producing simplified material, like layering, is neither a short cut nor an easy option. Nor is it simply an act of communication. Message simplification is an act of policy. As such, simplified messages need to be agreed and signed-off by policy committees – as were the Layer 1 and 2 messages in the Bank’s November Inflation Report. They are another example of the Marshall McLuhan maxim of the medium becoming the message.

Improvements in the SDDS and more transparency regarding Article IV reports, letters of Intent and policy papers will certainly improve risk assessment. This could help prevent economic problems from turning into crises and to prevent contagion to other countries. Progress has to be made as regards incentives for sound management. The creation of the CCL is a step in this direction. Designing appropriate incentives is the more effective way to make Members adopt more prudent debt management, effective banking supervision… Given the large number of institutions and fora involved in the efforts aiming at a better global financial architecture, the creation of the Financial Stability Forum reflects an important effort to coordinate work in progress and identify issues not yet addressed. THE EUROPEAN MONETARY UNION WILL YIELD A SUBSTANTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO BETTER ECONOMIC AND MONETARY EQUILIBRIUM IN THE WORLD The introduction of the euro six months ago is the other major event I would like to deal with now. The irreversible nature of this change has convinced an increasing number of political and economic actors that the success of the euro is a necessity for Europe. It is a keystone of the single market. It is clear that, now and for the future, we have to face a number of challenges to make this success sustainable.
The Iranian sanctions are designed to stifle the Iranian regime’s nuclear ambitions. The Cuban sanctions are intended to hinder the advancement of communism in the Americas and to change an oppressive regime through a trade embargo. For U.S. financial institutions, which operate on the basis of a public charter issued in the United States, the public purposes supporting economic sanctions and the detailed sanctions regulations are in harmony. With respect to rule compliance, the staff will follow those rules not simply because they are required to but also because they want to. While I am not here to speak for foreign institutions that have committed sanctions evasion, including BNPP, my sense from the evidence is that these institutions looked at economic sanctions very differently. They looked at economic sanctions as technical “American” rules that were not seen as consistent with the organization’s and the home country’s larger value system. In Europe, they found no similar sanctions, and there it was perfectly legal at the  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  time to do business with these sanctioned jurisdictions. Some European bankers almost naturally adopted the view that there was no value system underlying the technical American legal rule. The foreign institutions saw the situation as providing financial services to just another country; not to a country committing genocide; not to a country building a nuclear weapon; and not to a country fostering a dehumanizing ideology. This failure to correlate the rule with the value is the root of real mischief.

Thomas C Baxter, Jr: Reflections on the new compliance landscape Remarks by Mr Thomas C Baxter, Jr, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at “The New Compliance Landscape: Increasing Roles – Increasing Risks” Conference, New York City, 23 July 2014. *  *  *  The views expressed are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, or any component of the Federal Reserve System. Let me begin by thanking the Risk Management Association, PWC, Debevoise & Plimpton, and my friend Paul Lee for inviting me to participate in this conference. Of course, I need to give what sometimes sounds like a Miranda warning – my remarks are personal, and do not represent an official position of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, or any part of the Federal Reserve System. There is nothing I will say that can be used against them. I am going to address three specific compliance problems: economic sanctions, tax evasion, and foreign corrupt practices. I will use these three compliance problems to illustrate a larger point about organizational culture. If organizational values do not support the rules that organizations use to guide the behavior of employees, and worse, if organizational values actually conflict with those rules, the organization is headed for troubled territory. In my remaining time, I will elaborate on this fundamental point. Let me start with economic sanctions.
To achieve this, it is key that commercial banks are involved in the transmission of such funds. In addition, money transfer companies like Western Union and Money Gram have played a significant role in transferring remittances. Their wide geographical extension throughout the country covering many rural areas has complemented adequately the rather slow expansion of the banking sector in facilitating money transfers. The recent development of the payment  BIS Review 2/2010  1  system in Zambia has also played a key role in the movement of funds through official means. Nevertheless, unofficial flows still remain high signifying a business opportunity for banks. However, banks and other financial institutions, despite being safer, are perceived to be more expensive than the alternative unofficial means to the point of inducing many people in diaspora to stick to unofficial means. It is therefore important for banks to be mindful of their cost structures for such services. In this regard, the Bank of Zambia welcomes the introduction of the “Ecobank Rapid Transfer” and the “Non-Resident African Account which we have been informed will be lower cost products. This will no doubt increase the level of access to financial services in the country as well as enhance the level of competition by increasing the number of participants in the market. We hope that the introduction of these lower cost products will push the transfer commissions in this market downwards.

The opportunity, primarily for banks and other financial institutions, is to find ways to leverage Zambians in the diaspora to use remittance services that will both be profitable for the banks and will also provide them and their families with greater financial access. I thank you for your attention. 2  BIS Review 2/2010
And since we will only purchase bonds with a remaining maturity of between one and three years, there will still be ample room for market discipline on governments at longer maturities. Second, our actions will not lead to inflation. The weak overall economic situation, combined with slow money growth, means that the risks of inflation are currently very low over the medium term. Our interventions will not change this outlook. In fact, for every euro we inject with our interventions, we will withdraw a euro. So they will not affect monetary conditions. Furthermore, we see no signs that our announcement has affected inflation expectations. They are firmly anchored because we have always delivered price stability. And citizens can trust that we will continue to do so: price stability remains our mandate and our sole objective. Third, our actions will not lead to greater risks for taxpayers in Germany. Taxpayers are protected by the fact that our interventions will take place only in countries with sound economic and fiscal policies. Their continued commitment to these policies will be ensured by the ESM programme. And the ECB will assess compliance with this programme in full independence. Moreover, by normalising conditions in financial markets, our actions will help reverse the capital flows into Germany that are creating some distortions here. This should ultimately support the savers, pension funds and insurance companies that depend on interest income. And it should reduce TARGET2 imbalances.

Nevertheless, the exchange rate remains an important driver of future inflation in the euro area. Certainly, the appreciation that took place since mid-2012 had an impact on price stability. In the present context, an appreciated exchange rate is a risk to the sustainability of the recovery. Recent monetary policy measures Let me now move to explaining our monetary policy stance. We decided on a number of monetary policy measures in early June. These measures are aimed at providing additional monetary policy accommodation by supporting lending to the real economy. In line with our price stability mandate, these decisions are an essential contribution to bringing inflation rates closer to 2%. They will also contribute to a further strengthening of the recovery. •  Specifically, we lowered all key interest rates further. Our main refinancing rate now stands at 0.15%. Accordingly, our deposit facility rate has been cut to a negative level and now stands at –0.10%. •  We will conduct targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTROs) as of September 2014. In these operations, banks will be entitled to borrow from the Eurosystem, conditional on their lending to the private non-financial sector, with loans to households for house purchase being excluded. •  In addition, we are intensifying our work in preparation of possible outright purchases in the market for asset-backed securities (ABSs).
François Villeroy de Galhau: New Year wishes to the Paris financial centre New Year wishes to the Paris financial centre by Mr François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, Paris, 15 January 2020. * * * I would like to welcome you for this for this happy tradition of extending my New Year wishes to the Paris financial centre. But there are not just financial players here, there are also elected representatives, the press, and many associations that work with us. I would like to start by extending to you, on behalf of the Banque de France and the ACPR, our warmest wishes for 2020, for you and all of your staff. And a special thought goes to all those who are struggling with transport difficulties, or those who have, sadly, been the victim of the unacceptable attacks on branches. Within this tradition, I would like to welcome some new developments: the arrival of Dominique Laboureix as Secretary General of ACPR, alongside Patrick Montagner, Bertrand Peyret, Frédéric Visnovsky, and Emmanuelle Assouan, who will now be in charge of financial stability issues. In a world as hectic as ours, it is risky to make professional wishes. However, I will hazard three wishes for the financial sector in our country: that 2020 will be a year of stabilisation, a year of adaptation and a year of inclusion.

3 – A year of inclusion We can look forward to two real advances in inclusion in 2019: a fifth consecutive year of declining household over-indebtedness, by almost 40% over this period, and the implementation of a cap on bank charges at EUR 25 per month for more than three million vulnerable customers. Within this population, the specific offer – capping charges at EUR 20 per month and EUR 200 per year – now benefits 464,000 customers, or an increase of 32% compared with end-2017. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the banking community, which has worked hard to meet its commitments. Now, these commitments must be enhanced, and sustained. Enhanced in 2020: banks must detect fragile customers even more efficiently; they must correct the few remaining shortcomings; and they must raise awareness of their specific offers. These commitments must be sustained over time, and will be monitored by the ACPR, and by the Observatory for Banking Inclusion, which I chair, with an active role for the associations. Climate change will also be the priority in 2020. And you can count on the determination of the Banque de France and ACPR – with its new Climate and Sustainable Finance Committee – to support the greening of the financial sector. We will conduct the first climatic stress tests in the coming months. The aim of this exercise is twofold: to better identify the resilience of banks and insurers to climate risks, and to speed up the methodological work in order to have quality assessments.
(2017) ”Designing New Money The Policy Trilemma of Central Bank Digital Currency”. CBS Working Paper, June 2017, and Bordo, M. and Levin, A. (2017) ”Central Bank Digital Currency and the Future of Monetary Policy”. Economics Working Paper 17104 Hoover Institution. 29 The banks would still have access to central bank money as they have reserves at the Riksbank. 11 [15]  An e-krona system could work for the instant settlement of payments around the clock. We are also analysing the possibility of getting certain parts of it to work off-line. This could turn out to be important, not least in a crisis situation. In addition, there exists a risk for cyberattacks, which may increase in the future. I consider that Sweden’s preparedness will be weakened if, in a serious crisis or the event of war, we have not decided in advance how households and companies will pay for fuel, food and other necessities. Making it possible to make payments off-line may also be necessary to ensure that payments can be executed in all parts of the country. Any e-krona would also have to be designed bearing in mind that there are certain groups in society that presently experience problems with the disappearance of cash as, for various reasons, they find it difficult to use digital solutions. This may include older people, disabled people or people without access to bank cards for economic or other reasons.

It is important to note that no specific values have been defined for significant changes, such as the fluctuation margins of 2¼ per cent, 6 per cent and 15 per cent used by the EU countries in their exchange rate regime. Significant must be given an economic content. A reasonable interpretation is that exchange rate movements must not influence expectations concerning price and cost inflation to the extent that changes in the exchange rate become self-reinforcing. The expressions with a view to, over time, aimed at and based on also show that Norges Bank has considerable scope for exercising discretion. Exercising discretion In exercising this discretion, Norges Bank places emphasis on the fundamental conditions for achieving exchange rate stability over time. Price and cost inflation must be brought down to the level aimed at by the euro countries. At the same time, monetary policy must not in itself contribute to a deflationary recession. The regulation’s requirement with regard to returning the exchange rate to its initial range * may – if stretched – imply an element of “parity policy” . For example, in a scenario with a sharp and prolonged fall in oil prices, the krone exchange rate may remain outside the initial range for a longer period. If Norges Bank responds by raising interest rates in order to force the krone back to its initial range, monetary policy could lead to a recession that will undermine confidence in the krone.
I have ventured to outline three lessons that are hopefully are universally valid. But we can never be sure. I mentioned Ibsen’s “Enemy of the People”. Allow me to conclude with Doctor Stockmann’s comments:  Riksbank’s was not permitted to print banknotes when it was founded. In Norway, Jørgen Thormølen issued banknotes in September 1695. His venture lasted a year! See Anders Bjarne Fossen (1978), Jørgen Thormølen. Forretningsmann, storreder, finansgeni [Jørgen Thormølen. Businessman, shipping magnate, financial genius]. Eirnar Blaauw A.S, Bergen. 25  In Act I of Part II of Goethe’s Faust, published in 1832, the Emperor is in financial difficulties. Mephistopheles convinces him to print paper money backed by gold that has yet to be mined to boost economic activity. This works for a while, until soaring inflation destroys the economy. Jens Weidmann, the President of the Bundesbank, spoke of the dangers posed by overly unrestricted monetary policy, based on Faust, during the festival “Goethe und das Geld” in Frankfurt in September 2012: http://www.bundesbank.de/Redaktion/ EN/Reden/2012/2012_09_20_weidmann_money_creaktion_and_responsibility.html  10  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Yes, believe me or not, as you like; but truths are by no means as long-lived as Methuselah – as some folk imagine. A normally constituted truth lives, let us say, as a rule seventeen or eighteen, or at most twenty years –seldom longer.26 Ibsen’s play has been long-lived. It is still performed all over the world, 130 years after it was written. Not because the Norway of the 1880s never loses its appeal, nor because Doctor Stockmann found eternal truths.

From a medium-term perspective, and even when conditions are established that will free up the flow of credit from the banking sector to the  4  BIS Review 52/2009  real economy, it cannot be expected that rates of expansion will rise again to the heights of recent years. The de-leveraging process underway in the banking sector, and in the economy in general, is not a passing fad, but rather a means of achieving lower and more sustainable debt positions. One way of making up for the lower rates of credit expansion, and thus countering the foreseeable narrowing of net interest margins, would be to diversify banking activity into new business segments. In principle, diversification is a positive thing, but it must be undertaken with caution. Experience shows that both in Spain and internationally, only on limited occasions can an institution's sound knowledge of its core business be directly transferred to activities that lie further afield. Accordingly, those in charge of institutions should show prudence and avoid what can be termed contrived diversification processes and carefully assess their entry into unfamiliar market segments in which they lack experience. Second, in the short term bad debts will keep rising and so the pressure on loan loss provisions will continue to be high. It is true that the reduction in interest rates will bring relief for households and firms and help to limit the impact of the rise in bad debts, but the contractionary phase of the cycle will foreseeably last some quarters.