samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
However not all the initiatives that have arisen in response to this demand have the same impact on banking business. Allow me to introduce some nuances. 1. First, it is important to understand that, rather than projects that directly compete with banks, some of these technological innovations are in fact operational tools or improvements that credit institutions can incorporate into their own operations. Without giving an exhaustive list, this would, for example, be true of the use of technology to analyse so-called big data i.e. the analysis at great speed of a massive volume of data also generated at great speed and obtained from many sources. There are businesses that, with this tool, are capable of analysing or predicting customer behaviour using a large amount of unstructured information. This technology has many applications in the field of banking. In fact, one of the main assets of credit institutions is the information they have on their customers. Properly harnessed, this information would enable them to better know their risk profile and their preferences and needs, and thus to adapt the offering of financial products for the benefit of both parties. Moreover, banks have an invaluable asset, namely the confidence of bank customers in the confidentiality of their transactions which, as I will mention later should be nurtured and properly valued.

Captives could metaphorsise from perceived brass plates models into legitimate commercial vehicles that serve a real economic purpose. Perception management is pivotal for the future existence of captives. Captives must be seen as supporting and contributing to the broader economic transformation and growth. These three developments; the emergence of more diverse captive models serving a broader spectrum of companies, technological advancements and more considered regulations, are likely to foster a greater convergence between the intended economic outcomes of captives, and the required and appropriate regulatory framework. I hope that this forum will seize the window of opportunity to bring together mutual interests that have long been somewhat at odds. As a collective, all of us here today, have a common interest in ensuring that captives demonstrate genuine value and valuable economic purpose. Achieving this calls for strong corporate governance practices, greater transparency and sound financial management that commensurate with underwritten risks. Ultimately, a new reality needs to be embraced by captives. In the long term, investing in technology, technical expertise, better and stronger compliance frameworks are worthwhile endeavors. It’s no more a choice. At stake is the viability of individual captives and an enduring captive industry that will add breadth and depth to insurance markets. Conclusion The captive industry may well be at a turning point. In moving forward, how we start matters. Efforts to develop the captive industry should be focused on better risk management, promoting macro-economic stability and encouraging new growth rather purely concentrated on tax planning.
There are, certainly, things that we can do to reduce the risks - to try to prevent the first climber falling off the rock face, or to avoid kicking the rock that starts the avalanche. A key condition, obviously, is maintaining macro-economic, monetary, stability. That goes without saying. It gives everyone on the mountainside much the best chance of coming down unscathed! We can also turn the new information technology to our advantage, using it to make the linkages between the climbers safer - by reducing the risks in payments and settlements systems. A good deal of our attention on the financial stability side of the Bank is focused in this direction. And we can satisfy ourselves - through micro-prudential supervision and regulation of individual financial businesses - that the climbers are properly trained and equipped, and fully conscious of the risks. This now, of course, becomes the responsibility of the FSA. Intervention But however much we try to prevent accidents, we need to be prepared for them to happen. The Bank’s concern then becomes to ensure that they do not spread to other parts of the financial system. This may involve providing liquidity on penal terms, outside the central bank’s normal money market operations, against high quality assets to a particular institution, that does not want to appear in the market because it is under a cloud. Or it may mean standing between an intermediary and the market place, to facilitate payments or settlements which might not otherwise be completed, which could then cause gridlock.

As soon as the global economy has recovered sufficiently, interest rates will rise again. With all the concern about negative interest it is important to remember that when inflation is negative, real interest rates are higher than nominal interest rates. This is the case in Switzerland at the moment. If inflation is lower than the nominal interest rate, the end result is still an increase in purchasing power, even if an investment is not earning a nominal return. In the past, the rate of inflation has often been higher than the nominal rate of interest. In other words, in terms of real returns, there have certainly been times when saving was even less worthwhile than it is now; times, in fact, when savings lost value in real terms. Concluding remarks Ladies and gentlemen, I come to my concluding remarks. As you will have gathered from my comments today, the international environment remains extremely challenging for the Swiss economy and the SNB’s monetary policy. Interest rates worldwide have been very low for a long time. The after-effects of the financial crisis persist and are hampering global economic developments. At the same time, the Swiss franc is significantly overvalued and presents major difficulties for our economy. Nevertheless, I will venture to make two forecasts. First, that our economy will overcome these challenges successfully. Second, that negative interest will not become the “new  BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  normal”.
This could at one level be influenced by the fact that significant increases in housing wealth in recent years may have postponed people’s consideration of these issues, though they may now feel more pressing looking ahead. It is pretty clear that the changes are likely to be spread over a period of years, and from that perspective policy implications are likely to be gradual and manageable. Over time though the degree of change in savings habits – and therefore the impact on consumption and demand – may be quite significant. And the question is whether these changes will be smooth trends, or whether there will be more sudden, and perhaps unpredictable shifts or discontinuities in behaviour. And if the latter, will they be of sufficient magnitude to be relevant to shorter-term monetary policy? The challenges here are considerable, both of measurement, timing, and of our ability to anticipate any relevant changes. But to my mind we certainly need to remain alert. Policy makers in Germany have for some time now wondered if the sluggish performance of domestic demand in recent years is in part the result of such precautionary saving, and here in the UK we have wondered if this could have been one factor in the recent consumption slowdown. While the data will not confirm this for a while at least, the greater public awareness of the issues, brought about by initiatives such as Lord Turner’s report, suggests it is plausible that this has been a contributory factor.

Jean-Paul Redouin: A French and central banker point of view of the current situation Speech by Mr Jean-Paul Redouin, Deputy Governor of the Bank of France, at the first anniversary of Bank of France’s reserve management facility, New York, 11 October 2011. *  *  *  Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, It is a great pleasure to welcome you in this fascinating place. We were gathered here one year ago, for the opening of BANQUE DE FRANCE premises in New York.   BANQUE DE FRANCE has a long history of being present in New York, and deploying a reserve management desk within our own office is a logical conclusion of this lasting presence. In the context of the present turmoil this new organization helps us manage our portfolios efficiently and improves our understanding of market developments. I would like here to thank our team for its dedication and skill in this challenging responsibility. It gives me also the opportunity to share with you my understanding of the Eurozone and the way it works.   The first anniversary of our reserve management facility in New York happens to coincide also with the end of my tenure as Deputy Governor of BANQUE DE FRANCE, in a few months. For me both events are closely associated: I happen to be among the “happy few” that have been offered the opportunity to spend a year In New York representing BANQUE DE FRANCE at the Fed and vis a vis the financial community thirty years ago.
They then concluded it was for someone else to address macroprudential risk. The trail of macroprudential policy goes rather cold at this point. The prevailing view seems to have been that if the regulation and supervision of individual firms was right and if central banks had the necessary Tiberius-like instruments to intervene in crises, sufficient stability could be ensured. It was the realisation in the last years of the last century that an ever more liberalised and globalised financial sector was generating ever more difficult financial crises that led to the reawakening of interest in macroprudential policy. This was led by Andrew Crockett, then the General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements and a former Executive Director of the Bank of England.

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There is little reason to suppose that the authorities are likely to be any better than the private sector at finding the way forward. Nor is it obvious that national authorities have the locus or leverage to insist on a particular model. Much the same reservations would apply to any European level intervention. That said, what the public sector can contribute, in this area as in financial markets more generally, is a removal of barriers to competition, requirements on the provision of information and the easing of constraints on the effective functioning of the market. If consolidation does indeed take place, the public authorities may also have a role in ensuring that heavily concentrated market infrastructure providers do not exploit their position. But at a European level we are at present still some way from this situation. And internationally we need to work together, within the WTO and the IMF, as well as within the various international regulatory and professional bodies, to promote the global free movement of  BIS Review 48/2001  3  capital, because in this context – as in the case of free trade – the potential benefits are not confined to national or even regional boundaries but increase within wider international participation. Mr Chairman, we have come a long way in improving the effectiveness of our financial systems, and there are powerful forces at work pushing us in the right direction – including, within Europe, the introduction of the euro. But we still have a very long way to go.

It is a process we are particularly conscious of in London where major financial institutions from all over the world, including, of course, from elsewhere in Europe, have long been predominant players, especially in international wholesale market activity. But international ownership of banks (including newly privatised banks) and other financial institutions has increasingly become a common characteristic of financial systems in a wide range of other countries. I will not comment further on globalisation, which is certainly very familiar to you, except perhaps to say that I have often been teased by people who talk about the Wimbledonisation of the City of London – meaning that we provide the tournament venue but the prizes are mostly carried off by competitors from overseas. I think that many of those people now increasingly understand that it is activity rather than nationality of ownership which creates a competitive market place, and in turn provides employment and income and tax revenue, which are the things that really contribute to the macro-economy. As a broad generalisation the wider the range of participants the more efficient the market place. A third major driver of change in our financial systems – as elsewhere in our economies – is, of course, information technology. This has clearly transformed transactions processing, putting a premium on throughput, and encouraging some forms of specialisation and consolidation. It has made possible entirely new – and typically much cheaper – means of delivering financial services making it easier for new entrants to contest existing franchises.
The economy is currently beginning to recover from what many are calling the Great Recession. While real GDP began to increase in the third quarter of last year, growth so far has been insufficient to improve conditions much in the labor markets. This unfortunate reality can be seen in Figure 1, which shows the employment-to-population ratio over the past 30 years with the shading representing recessions. The decline of about five percentage points in the employment-to-population ratio in this recession is striking, as many workers have either become unemployed or dropped out of the work force. While it is not uncommon for the employment-to-population ratio to decline in a recession, Figure 2 shows how dramatic the decline has been in this recession, compared with previous ones. 2 The loss of jobs has been particularly acute in construction and manufacturing. The severity of the job losses in these male-dominated industries is one of the reasons that males in some age groups have experienced such a significant decline in their employment-to-population ratio, as shown in Figure 3. For example, the March unemployment rates for males between the ages of 20 and 24 was 18.4 per cent, more than 5 percentage points higher than for females in the same age group.

These include: •  Stable macroeconomic environment as reflected in single digit inflation, reduction in lending interest rates and a stable exchange rates  •  Amendments/Harmonisation of financial sector legislation such as the Development Bank of Zambia (DBZ) Act, the National Savings and Credit Act (NSCA), the Pensions and Insurance Act, the Building Societies Act (BSA) and the Banking and Financial Services Act (BFSA) in 2005. •  Establishment of a credit reference bureau in 2006; and Promulgation of microfinance regulations in 2006. Honourable Minster – The production of market knowledge on the supply and demand for financial services in Zambia was identified as one of the priority areas under the FSDP. In this regard, FinMark Trust of South Africa was contracted by our cooperating partners the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) to undertake this important activity and subsequently, the FinScope Zambia 2005 Survey, a comprehensive demand-side survey of consumer interactions with financial markets in Zambia, was conducted in November 2005. The main objective of the survey was to measure access to and use of financial services, along with how people manage their finances and what drives their financial behaviour. Honourable Minister and Invited Guests - This morning we are here to share with you, the findings of the FinScope Zambia 2005 Survey. These findings are expected to play an important role in profiling demand for financial services in Zambia.
The challenge before us is to build a new financial architecture that would allow for the more efficient functioning of not only financial intermediation within national economies but also across borders. Islamic finance, with its emphasis on a strong linkage to productive economic activity, its inbuilt check and balances and its high level of disclosure and transparency offers this. Indeed, inherent in Islamic finance is the explicit elements that address several of the issues that have surfaced in the conventional financial system during the current crisis. At the centre of this recent global financial crisis was the breakdown in governance that led to indiscriminate lending, excessive risk-taking and overzealous financial innovation. This is avoided in Islamic finance with the requirement that Islamic financial transactions must have an underlying economic activity  BIS Review 152/2009  1  and that the process of innovation and formulation of Islamic financial products and services must be done carefully and in accordance with Shariah. The crisis has provided an important lesson that the development of new financial instruments embraces this process while being able to effectively compete in the global arena. Strengthening the Islamic financial system As Islamic finance becomes an integral part of the global financial system, it has become increasingly exposed to the systemic implications of external developments. There is the risk of the contagion effects arising from financial and economic disruptions that emanated from the conventional markets.

Zeti Akhtar Aziz: Islamic finance and financial stability Opening remarks by Mrs Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the BNM High Level Conference on Financial Stability, Bank Negara Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, 24 November 2009. *  *  *  It is my great pleasure to welcome you to Bank Negara Malaysia Conference on Financial Stability that is being held in conjunction with 15th IFSB Council Meeting and the 3rd IFSB Public Lecture on Financial Policy and Stability. This conference takes place at a time when there has been intense discussion by the international community on the necessary financial reforms at both the national and international level so that we will avoid such global crisis of such a scale in the future. This conference today provide us with an opportunity to reflect on the new challenges that are emerging from this global financial and economic crisis and discuss Islamic finance and the need to ensure not only its resilience but how it might contribute to global financial stability. Indeed, Islamic finance has a potential role in contributing not only to global financial stability but also towards a more balanced global growth. While Islamic finance by its very nature and its direct link to economic activity contributes to this process, the recognition of the new financial challenges ahead require further steps to be taken to strengthen its resilience and robustness.
I am especially grateful for the support from the faculty over the years – both while I was a student and afterwards. There are two people I would particularly like to highlight: Jan Van der Veen – Jan was the professor who really got me started in economics. Bob Bennedetti – Bob agreed to a contract in which I would get a semester of college credit mainly through working on the 1972 presidential campaign in the California primary election and in Ohio for the general election. Probably learned more from that experience than anything else I have ever done in higher education. I would encourage all of you – Republicans, Democrats and Independents – to get involved in public service at some point in your careers. I have many memories of New College – some about people such as Jan and Bob, and others about events and experiences. For example, one of the most remarkable events I have ever witnessed occurred here one night in December 1972 – the first Apollo spacecraft night launch. I remember staring out from the top of a dormitory roof not far from here across the horizon looking at the star specks – wondering, is that the rocket? When it actually came up over the horizon it truly was amazing. I remember it as no bigger than a half-inch gap between your thumb and index finger at arm’s length.

The third was when I was asked to head the Markets Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at the beginning of 2007. It was an unexpected opportunity for public service after spending the bulk of my career in the private sector. The Markets Group is the operational arm of the Federal Reserve System. It helps to have an economics background, but it was a very different task managing 300 people who worked in many complex businesses ranging from Treasury auctions to providing services to foreign central banks. And, when the financial crisis began in earnest in August 2007, the learning curve accelerated sharply. BIS Review 71/2010  3  And the fourth was when I had the opportunity to succeed Timothy Geithner as president of the Bank in January 2008. Now it is 3,000 people, not 300 to manage and a much wider set of responsibilities. Some of the most interesting parts of the job have been getting troubled financial institutions onto a stronger footing so that these firms could provide greater credit and support to the U.S. economy. Obviously, working closely with Chairman Ben Bernanke and my Fed colleagues at the Board of Governors and around the other 11 Reserve Banks has also been particularly rewarding. Each time, the opportunities helped me broaden my knowledge and skills. My career benefited as a consequence. In implementing this advice, it also helps to have lots of good luck. In that regard, I have been blessed.