samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Bakarudin Ishak: Linking United Kingdom & Malaysia – opportunities and solutions in fundraising and investments Introductory address by Mr Bakarudin Ishak, Assistant Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia), at the Forum “Linking United Kingdom & Malaysia: Opportunities and Solutions in Fundraising and Investments”, organised by TheCityUK, London, 29 September 2015. *  *  *  On behalf of the Malaysian delegation, I am pleased to be here today at this forum with the theme “Linking United Kingdom & Malaysia: Opportunities and Solutions in Fundraising and Investments”. It is a great opportunity to jointly organise this event with TheCityUK which we hope will further enhance Malaysia-UK relationship in Islamic finance and strengthen the investment and financial ties between the two countries. Appreciation note Our utmost appreciation goes to TheCityUK for hosting this Forum and the warm hospitality extended to Malaysian delegates. We would also like to extend our appreciation to Trowers & Hamlins for holding this Forum at its venue. Trowers & Hamlins is Malaysia’s first foreign law firm to be granted a Qualified Foreign Law Firm (QFLF) licence. This allows them to operate independently in Malaysia and advise on international legal issues including on Islamic finance matters. The entry of foreign legal firms will create a symbiotic environment to accelerate the Malaysian legal firms’ capabilities at the international front.

2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  We are committed to jointly resolving any outstanding issues, if any, for the purpose of advancing Islamic finance activities in both countries. We hope significant deals could be initiated following today’s event to facilitate cross-border flow of funds between both countries and regions, with the Malaysian delegation ready to share their experiences and expertise in this area. For example, Malaysian players can partner with the UK players to structure a syndicated Islamic financing facility or joint lead-arrange a sukuk issuance for any of the identified UK regeneration projects. Both London and Kuala Lumpur can succeed and prosper as leading global financial centres in Islamic finance. We are open to challenges and new ideas and look forward to working together with TheCityUK through a strengthened partnership to achieve these objectives in the years to come. A UK-Malaysia Working Group may provide that strategic platform to holding continuous dialogues for this purpose. With this, I wish the Forum an engaging and fruitful discussion. Thank you  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3
Free capital movement makes it more difficult to isolate a country from the global financial cycle – and indirectly thereby from monetary policy in large countries – even if they have a floating exchange rate. Some go so far as to say that developments on the financial markets imply that, regardless of the exchange rate regime, there are only two alternatives. Either one has free capital movement and accepts that it is then difficult or impossible to conduct a monetary policy of one’s own, or one conducts one’s own monetary policy but counteracts the free movement of capital.29 However, this appears too strong a conclusion. The main line of inquiry so far is that countries with floating exchange rates can conduct a monetary policy of their own, but that domestic monetary and financial conditions have become more sensitive to shocks from abroad, and that it has thus become more complicated to pursue a well-balanced monetary policy.30 How can international spillover effects be managed? If one now considers that spillover effects from larger countries’ monetary policy via the global financial markets are a problem, how can one resolve it? One possibility, at least on paper, would be for central banks around the world to coordinate their policy. I am personally not particularly optimistic about the possibilities or the usefulness of trying to achieve an international coordination of monetary policy in any more formal sense. Ultimately, the national central banks have the task of fulfilling mandates that are determined  27  See, for example, Rajan (2014).

Without exceeding the terms of this legal mandate, proper compliance requires, as I stated earlier, that banking supervision should be able to adapt to changes in its environment. One group of these changes covers aspects such as financial innovation, concentration and internationalisation, i.e. all developments present in the system and the attendant trends. Banking supervision must know how to capture and interpret the latter, as part of a threefold aim: to encourage their positive aspects; to eliminate, or at least minimise, processes which may prove harmful; and to adapt its own procedures to new circumstances. Only in this way will banking supervision, observing to the full the system's underlying rationale and the initiative of its agents, be able to avoid or correct, at the lowest possible cost, the imperfections of the markets, especially the externalities that may harm third parties. The second no less important group of changes to which banking supervision must adapt is in relation to the demands posed by society. I consider two such demands to be particularly significant. The first is the growing social demand that supervision should promote not only sound, stable and efficient financial systems but systems, moreover, which are governed by increasingly stricter codes of conduct giving rise to practices and conduct subject to ever-higher standards. Among the practical consequences of this demand are, among others, improvements in transparency, in corporate governance and in banks’ knowledge of their clients, as I mentioned earlier.
If the MPC chooses to ease policy and expand the balance sheet further as part of that, the Bank is operationally ready to do so. But at some point, as part of a future tightening strategy, the time will come to start reducing the stock of purchased assets. Given the sums involved, this is not something to do lightly – so the MPC has set out the steps it will follow:  -  First, the MPC does not intend to begin QT until Bank Rate has risen to a level from which it could be cut materially if required. The MPC currently judges that to be around 1.5%.12  -  Second, QT will be conducted over a number of years at a gradual and predictable pace, chosen by the MPC in light of economic and financial market conditions at the time. -  Third, the QT path will take account of the need to maintain the orderly functioning of the gilt and corporate bond markets including through liaison with the Debt Management Office. -  And, fourth, the QT path can be amended or reversed as required to achieve the inflation target. When might this all start? No time soon, if you ask the financial markets! The current forward yield curve does not reach 1.5% at all (Chart 7). But options markets price in a small probability of it occurring, and (as the chart shows) expectations can shift quite rapidly: less than a year ago the implied central case start date was in 2021.

This, in turn, will mobilise more public and private sector investments through co-financing and greatly enhance the support available to developing members. We are also glad to see that governments are working together and making significant steps in promoting infrastructure development. They include, for instance, the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the G20 Global Infrastructure Initiative and Global Infrastructure Hub. These initiatives underscore the commitment by governments from within and outside the region to give infrastructure investment a fresh impetus. By bringing new funds and new ways for development assistance, they will serve to complement the existing efforts by ADB in meeting the region’s vast development needs. As highlighted in the theme for this year’s Annual Meeting, fostering cooperation among development partners – existing and new, private and public, national and multilateral – is crucial for reaping synergy and maximising development impact. ADB has a hailed tradition of cooperating with other partners in delivering results. By working together, we believe that ADB and its partners in the region will go a long way in mobilising funds and building the capacity of developing members in delivering high-quality infrastructure projects. As an international financial and business centre in the region, Hong Kong, China has an active role to play in supporting and promoting infrastructure investment in Asia. Corporates, as well as national and multilateral development agencies including ADB and IFC, have been making extensive use of Hong Kong, China’s deep financial markets in raising funds for infrastructure projects.
If one were to type “life insurance” and do an image search over the internet, a very common picture is that of the umbrella; and it is easy to understand why – insurance as protection, a cover, or a shield. But the umbrella has to be a dependable one, when one needs it most. 4. Two critical factors underlie consumers’ confidence in the life insurance industry: i. First, insurers, together with financial advisers, must be regarded as trustworthy and reliable. Consumers must be able to depend on them to provide appropriate financial advice and life insurance products to meet their needs; and issues of fairness and transparency must underscore the relationship. ii. Second, given the long-term commitments, insurers must be financially resilient to be able to weather different economic, financial and industry cycles and have adequate financial resources to be able to honour claims. 5. Today, let me therefore take stock of two key policy thrusts that MAS has embarked on with many of you here – the FAIR initiatives and RBC2 – to enhance trust and resilience of the insurance industry respectively. Enhancing consumers’ trust in the life insurance industry: FAIR initiatives 6. I will start with the Financial Advisory Industry Review or FAIR. MAS first announced FAIR in 2012 with the formation of a review panel. FAIR aims to improve the quality of financial advice provided by the financial advisory industry by promoting fair dealing, and to raise the efficiency of the distribution of life insurance and investment products in Singapore. 7.

1/5  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  Therefore, we are not at the beginning of this road, we are in the home stretch, and we had come through an important and difficult part of this road when our country joined the European Banking Union and the Bulgarian lev joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. What is next? If we want to complete the accession process successfully, we need to accomplish a few groups of tasks. The first and the most important task is to meet the convergence criteria or the socalled Maastricht criteria. At present, Bulgaria complies with the criteria of the public finances, the long-term interest rates, and the exchange rate stability. Some of these indicators exceed the requirement by a substantial positive margin. Let me remind you, for instance, the wellknown fact that our ratio of debt to gross domestic product is the second lowest one in the European Union. The exchange rate is unshakable and is backed by the foreign exchange reserves of the Bulgarian National Bank, which have reached their historically highest level. The only criterion that we are not complying with is the one of inflation. Behind this are both external and internal factors, but this is the subject of another indepth debate. The second group of tasks includes the commitments taken during the preaccession period. These are the measure in four spheres – the non-bank financial sector, anti-money laundering measures, the insolvency framework, and the management of state-owned enterprises.
Moreover, a few months after the start of the pandemic, a significant number of activities, such as trade and education, had adapted their operation to do business under the newly imposed restrictions, resorting to digital or telematic means. To a large extent, this has been possible thanks to the experience, capacity and buffers accumulated over many years within the framework of economic policy adopted in Chile. Fiscal prudence, expressed in the structural balance rule, generated assets and borrowing capacity to meet spending needs and adopt a countercyclical fiscal policy in the current situation. Monetary policy kept inflation low and expectations firmly anchored, generating space to strongly expand its expansionary stance by using both conventional and unconventional instruments. The rigor of our banking regulation, which is expected to be strengthened with the adoption of Basel III standards, allowed banks to expand their loans and respond to the cash flow difficulties of the companies. The depth of our capital market allowed large companies and the government to continue finding financing in the local bond market. The floating exchange rate continued to act as a buffer against external shocks, and the diversification of foreign trade allowed Chile to benefit from the anticipated recovery of China and other Asian economies. All this has made this crisis different from previous cycles, not only because of the origin and magnitude of the initial shock, but also because of its propagation mechanisms and mitigating factors.

Simon M Potter: Concluding remarks at the Monetary Policy Implementation in the Long Run Conference Concluding remarks by Mr Simon M Potter, Executive Vice President of the Markets Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the Monetary Policy Implementation in the Long Run Conference, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 19 October 2016. * * * Thank you for participating in the conference “Monetary Policy Implementation in the Long Run” here at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Over the past two days we have engaged in productive and thought-provoking discussions of the evolution of monetary policy implementation across global central banks. These discussions will help shape the way the Federal Reserve thinks about monetary policy implementation in the future. The Federal Reserve’s implementation of policy has evolved in important ways in recent years, including using the balance sheet as an active policy tool at the zero lower bound (ZLB).
Ajith Nivard Cabraal: Developments in the evolution of central banking and challenges faced by central bankers Inaugural speech by Mr Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, at the International Course on Central Banking organized by the Centre for Banking Studies, Colombo, 22-23 May 2007. *  *  *  Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to be here to address you at the opening ceremony of this international course on Central Banking. Let me also welcome all the participants to the course and extend to the participants from overseas countries and Prof. Sinclair, a very warm welcome to our country. The Centre for Banking Studies(CBS) has provided training opportunities for officers in the financial sector in Sri Lanka over the last 26 years. It also has past experience in coordinating a number of international programmes of the SEACEN Centre, APRACA and World Bank held in Sri Lanka. Also several officers of central banks in SARRC countries have participated in the scheduled programmes of the Centre, though they were not specially designed for an international audience. This Central Banking course in fact is the very first international programme designed and conducted by CBS. I am glad that there are 14 overseas participants at this first programme. I congratulate CBS for successfully organizing it. I am sure that there will be more overseas participants in the forthcoming international programmes. Our plan is to invite eminent resource persons to conduct these international programmes.

I am glad that we were able to have the service of Prof. Peter Sinclair of university of Birmingham who h as served as Director, Centre for Banking Studies, of the Bank of England to conduct this programme. Ladies and gentlemen, let me highlight some interesting developments in the evolution of central banking and some challenges faced by central bankers. The role of central banks has evolved over past several decades. You may recall that the original task of central banks was not the conducting of monetary policy or supporting the banking system but financing government spending. The oldest central bank of the world, the Bank of Sweden was established in 1668 largely as means to finance military spending . The Bank of England was said to have been created in 1694 to fund a war with France. Even as recently as late 1940’s a labour chancellor of the exchequer, Stafford Cripps was said to have described the Bank of England as “ his bank”. Today, it is a taboo for most central banks to finance government deficits. Most countries have managed their affairs without a central bank for a long time. At the beginning of this century there were only 18 central banks. The USA managed without a central bank until 1913. Private banks issued their own currency notes and coins and banking crises were fairly frequent. The Federal Reserve Bank of USA was established mainly to supervise banks and act as lender of last resort.
This final distribution after final macroeconomic price and quantity adjustments is, however, much more difficult to assess because it is still in progress and can only be measured afterwards. II.1 The ex-ante distribution of the extra energy bill As shown on slide 8, before any compensatory measures, households would bear more than one third of the bill according to this estimates, while companies would bear a bit less than two thirds. The general government would at this stage hardly be hit because of its tiny share in domestic energy consumption. This ex-ante distribution is almost not affected by the various measures of the (extra) energy bill itself, mentioned earlier (see I.3). II.2 The effect of the fiscal measures: a range of estimates The burden distribution is considerably modified after the government compensatory measures: the share for households goes down to around 5%, while that of the general government goes up to at least 35% of the overall burden, according to our first, “restrictive”, approach. The share of companies goes down, but more moderately, just above 55 percent. Page 10 of 14  Note that the distribution after compensatory measures depends of course on the scope of budgetary measures that are considered. In our “restrictive” approach, we have taken into account only those measures specifically targeted at the oil or the gas bill, such as the rebate on fuel prices or the compensatory subsidies to gas suppliers. Other choices may also make sense.

The significance of having as our own the world’s second most important currency is not lost upon a central banker. For, beyond its proven economic benefits, the euro signifies the virtual elimination of the potential risk of an exchange rate crisis to which the currencies of small, open economies are exposed on a daily basis in a world characterized by the free movement of capital. We have now traded in this vulnerability for the greater security and credibility afforded by a major international currency. The euro has indeed been a success story in many respects. The disciplines of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) were intended to promote the creation of a macroeconomic environment in which countries could thrive in an increasingly competitive market place. The euro area’s track record in terms of price stability, trade expansion and employment creation suggest that these expectations have been largely fulfilled. The Central Bank of Malta is, therefore, proud to have become a member of the Eurosystem. From an institution charged with the preservation of price stability in Malta and with safeguarding the integrity of our national currency, the Bank now shares responsibility with the other members of the Eurosystem for shaping monetary policy in the best interest of 320 million people in fifteen countries. This is a task which my colleagues at the Bank and I approach with confidence and enthusiasm. From a national perspective, the challenge now is to maximize the benefits of participation in monetary union by making further progress on the path of reform.
As you might suspect, Principle 17 on last look likely consumed the most time and energy of any of the principles in the Code. In many areas within the last look principle there was broad consensus as to what constitutes good practice. What was clear from this process was that market participants seemed to define last look in different ways and apply it in different ways as well. Last look is described in the Code as a practice in which a market participant receives a trade request and has the opportunity to accept or reject that trade request against its quoted price. The Code notes that if utilized, last look should be used as a risk mechanism to verify validity and/or price. The principle focuses on the importance of transparency and fairness. Market participants should be clear about whether and, if so, how last look might apply to their client trade requests to allow clients to make an informed choice regarding their execution. In one particular area—that of trading during the last look “window”—there was a definite diversity of views. On the one hand, some market participants argued that such trading activity would always be detrimental to the client as it could move the market in a direction that is not to the client’s advantage. On the other hand, some market participants felt that such trading activity could increase their ability and willingness to conduct client trades presented by clients without necessarily placing the clients at a disadvantage.

I do not have the answers for all of them but I believe these questions are important and relevant for us to address today and in days ahead. What I can tell you definitively is that the work on the integrated policy framework (IPF) is highly important as the environment that ASEAN policymakers are navigating through becomes increasingly challenging. On this note, I look forward to an engaging and fruitful discussion today. To my ASEAN colleagues, let us use this opportunity to share our views and experiences with the IMF. To our IMF colleagues, it is my hope that you will consider these views and continue to engage with regional policymakers as you work towards finalising the work on the IPF. 3/3  BIS central bankers' speeches