samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
It must dispel the image of takaful as being an overly-complicated form of insurance suitable only for Muslims. Market positioning should have broad appeal. Products should be easy to understand and live up to public expectations of fair treatment, transparent and efficient service. In operational terms, this means using plain and simple language and always seeking to do what is right for the customer, rather than only what is legally required. Over 50% of insurance and takaful complaints that we received in 2017 were of mis-selling or misrepresentation. Remember, when our staff or agents misinform or mistreat a customer, they harm the institution and industry’s reputation, undoing all the hard work that went into building the system that we have today. As a society we need to take care of our own, specifically for the B40 group. There is a lot of work to be done. As at end-2016, insurance and takaful penetration in the B40 segment of working age stood at 30.3%, compared with the overall penetration rate of 46.8%. The roll out of affordable, accessible and easy to understand products under Perlindungan Tenang is a start in meeting the needs of the underserved. Unfortunately, to date, only three takaful operators have developed products under this initiative. Given the importance of financial inclusion for the nation and takaful being a product with pseudo-social leanings, we should expect much more from takaful operators.

Muhammad bin Ibrahim: Takaful industry at crossroads - a critical examination Remarks by Mr Muhammad bin Ibrahim, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia), at the Takaful Annual Dinner and Awards 2018 "Takaful industry at crossroads: A critical examination", Kuala Lumpur, 23 March 2018. * * * Just last year, I addressed the insurance industry. The day after, the newspaper headlines screamed “insurance models broken”. And so, I was more than a little surprised to receive an invitation to speak. I could not resist it, and so I accepted. This evening, I promise to be no less critical of the takaful industry. But take this well, as the path to success begins with a critical examination of where we are today. We need to work as a collective. And also bear in mind that the takaful’s industry success is also our success. Let us start by reviewing the industry’s progress. Indeed, it has come a long way since its birth over thirty years ago. Its 1% market share in 1990 is now around 15%. Net contributions have grown 9% annually since 2010. These are achievements that we all should be proud of. However, before we celebrate, let us consider three issues. First, can the industry sustain the growth momentum as we move into the 21st century world of technology and innovation. We have set ourselves an objective but we are far away from meeting the target. The objective of 25% family takaful penetration by 2020 is admittedly, ambitious but achievable.
The exchange rate may serve as an automatic stabiliser. In periods of excessive activity in the economy, or expectations of excessive activity, the exchange rate may appreciate, even if the sight deposit rate does not change. Similarly, the exchange rate may depreciate if activity is low. With inflation targeting, we no longer have a specific objective for the krone exchange rate. The krone is floating. The exchange rate represents an important channel through which monetary policy functions. Changes in the exchange rate are desirable when they contribute to stabilising inflation. To what extent the exchange rate will depreciate as a result of a reduction in the sight deposit rate depends on several factors. The more the krone depreciates as a result of a reduction in interest rates, the less the sight deposit rate will have to be reduced when it is appropriate to relax monetary policy. A weaker currency contributes to higher economic activity and thereby higher inflation. In addition, consumer price inflation will increase because prices for imported consumer goods will be higher if the exchange rate depreciates. The response to a change in the exchange rate will depend on how the change is judged to influence inflation. This is consistent with the way we normally take other asset prices into account. BIS Review 25/2003  7  Conclusion In conclusion, I would like to comment briefly on current economic developments. Global economic growth appears to be weaker than previously projected.

The ultimate vision is for the Asia School of Business to be a premier business school that develops transformative and principled leaders who will contribute to the advancement of the emerging world, particularly in Asia. Bank Negara Malaysia’s commitment to this collaboration is not only in providing the 20-acre land that is in the green lung of Kuala Lumpur for the campus and in building state-of-the-art facilities for the School, but being very much part of the Asian region, we hope that Malaysia, and more specifically, the Central Bank, will also be leveraged upon for our knowledge and experience in the region. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Located in the heart of Asia, Malaysia offers an eclectic mix of cultures and ethnic backgrounds that reflects the heterogeneity of Asia. As a highly open economy, Malaysia has strong economic and financial inter-linkages with the world, from Asia to the advanced economies and other emerging economies, including Latin America, the Middle East and Central Asia. The School will, therefore, draw extensively from the network of businesses in the emerging world to provide a platform for learning and research, and thus offer an extensive experience of the diversity that exists, in particular, in Asia. With the strength founded in the collaboration, I am confident of our potential to develop the Asia School of Business on solid foundations. The Bank looks forward to working with MIT Sloan in making this collaboration a success.
However, information on why the repo rate is being kept unchanged is in principle just as important for understanding the monetary policy conducted as is information on why the repo rate is being adjusted. Secondly, we have decided to make changes with regard to monetary policy signalling. By this I mean how we on the Executive Board of the Riksbank communicate what we intend to do with the interest rate. Now that we publish an entire path for the interest rate, the need to signal between the meetings has declined. Our conclusion is that there will not normally be any reason between the monetary policy meetings to give an indication of how the interest rate will be set. In exceptional cases, such as when an event occurs that radically changes the economic situation, while there is a long time to go until the next meeting, there may be reasons to signal between two monetary policy meetings. Of course the individual Executive Board members should continue to be able to express their own opinions publicly. But this is above all a question of afterwards clarifying and explaining personal deliberations made in connection with the monetary policy meetings. Differences of opinion within the Executive Board will also, as before, be made clear when the minutes of the meetings are published. This leads me on to the third change we have decided to make.

In China the annual growth rate has been over ten per cent for several years. Exports comprise a large part of the gross domestic product. China’s share of total global exports has increased from around 1 per cent at the beginning of the 1980s to just over 8 per cent in 2006. The Chinese Government is worried that the high growth will lead to excessively rapid growth in investment and credit and thereby to bad investments. They are therefore trying in various ways to cool down the economy. As yet there are no clear signs that they have succeeded in this. Possible risks for the world economy The question is whether there is anything that can threaten a positive development in the world economy over the coming years. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has tried to identify some possible scenarios that could in the short term lead to lower growth. They envisage above all four such scenarios:  BIS Review 54/2007  1  1. Continued high growth leading to a shortage of resources that means that inflation accelerates again. 2. Problems in the US housing market spreading to other sectors of the economy and leading to a sharp fall in economic activity. 3. A large fall in stock market prices on the world’s stock exchanges leading to lower investments and lower consumption. 4. A rapid and brutal correction in the US current account deficit that could have large repercussions.
However, after several years of strong growth, resources are now in short supply. With the substantial number of businesses now facing capacity constraints, we can expect inflation to pick up. It is uncertain whether inflation will then rise quickly or only gradually near target. Strong export growth, high oil investment and after a period higher growth in general government demand have contributed to the upswing in production and employment. But the low level of interest rates has also been a prominent driving force. This reflects the dynamics inherent in interest-rate setting. Low interest rates have stimulated demand and production and should lead to higher inflation, to which we are now reacting by raising interest rates. Under inflation targeting, it is important to be mindful of the effects of higher interest rates on the krone exchange rate when inflation is low. Interest rate developments in other countries are thus of importance to interest rates in Norway. BIS Review 15/2007  5  Unemployment has declined sharply in recent quarters. The pace of decline and the level of unemployment are reminiscent of two earlier cyclical peaks, one in the mid-1980s and the one that began at the end of the 1990s and continued into the present decade. Both booms culminated in sharply accelerating cost and wage inflation. Some of the driving forces that have boosted the growth potential of the Norwegian economy and restrained inflation may diminish. Prices for imported goods are no longer decelerating at the same pace. Labour market conditions are tightening in Sweden and Poland.

Consequently, the rise in property prices will tend to be highest in those countries where income growth is highest. 8  BIS Review 15/2007  Norway is now reaping the considerable benefits brought by the strong expansion in Asian countries and changes in the international division of labour. Norway’s GDP is increasing sharply and this is reflected in high government revenues and saving, increased household purchasing power and buoyant earnings in the business sector. The rise in house prices is partly being driven by growth in household income. Moreover, this period of prosperity and government budget surpluses may have engendered a sense of security which is also affecting household saving and house purchases. It would appear that household saving has fallen markedly in Norway in the recent past. Saving was probably negative in the latter half of 2006, which would be the first time saving has fallen since 1988. Housing investment for the household sector as whole is being fully debt-financed, i.e. an increase in net debt. External and domestic interest rates are low in an environment of solid growth. Long-term interest rates have fallen sharply both in nominal and real terms since the beginning of the 1990s. Inflation has declined and contributed to a fall in nominal interest rates. A more stable inflation environment also results in lower real interest rates when investors become more certain about returns. Furthermore, it would appear that high saving in some parts of the world is pushing down long-term interest rates.
Once the adjustments are completed, households can consume more and regain their access to credit, and these developments help to support a more vigorous economic recovery. Of course, we don’t yet know precisely where we are in this adjustment process. For example, families may choose a permanently higher rate of saving in order to rebuild their retirement savings. What they decide to do will depend in part on their expectations for future income, their outlook for the economy, what they think will happen to housing and stock prices, and prospects for taxes and benefits such as social security and Medicare payments. However, we do know that during good times few households are likely to be delinquent on  4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  their bills. And, overall, we’d expect their borrowing to grow at least modestly as the economy strengthens. The Household Debt and Credit Report released today indicates that there has been a pickup in credit flows. Households increased their non-mortgage debt last quarter, a development not seen since the fourth quarter of 2008. The number of credit card applications increased – an indication of a pick-up in consumer demand for credit. And, the number of open credit card accounts also increased slightly – as more accounts were opened than were closed. Of course, signs of distress continued: households are still reducing their housing-related debt and delinquencies continue to be a problem. So, the adjustments remain far from complete.

By the way, let me note that this pause occurred before mid-December, so it cannot be attributed to the recent spate of heavy snow storms. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  By contrast, New Jersey’s economy has seen no pick-up in activity and, in fact, activity there continued to decline at a modest pace through the end of 2010. We monitor Puerto Rico using an index produced by the Government Development Bank of Puerto Rico. This index shows that the recession there, which started back in 2005 – well before that experienced in the mainland – appears to have subsided. As of November of last year, activity was no longer falling, although indications of a recovery are still mixed. Turning to jobs, the latest data indicate that businesses in the region, on balance, were not expanding their workforces at the end of last year. As a result, the total number of jobs in the region has held steady, lagging behind the job growth rate experienced nationally. Much of this recent weakness in employment stems from job losses in the retail, wholesale and manufacturing sectors in our region. In the rest of the nation, these sectors expanded during the last quarter. Moreover, our state and local governments cut jobs much more severely than governments did elsewhere. At the same time, job gains in some of the region’s strongest sectors – professional and business services, finance, education and health – were not large enough to completely offset these losses.
In the poem “Otherness land”20 he describes Norway as a country in the far north, a nation struggling and resisting intimidation. A prominent feature of Norway is its natural resources. The harvesting of waterfall power, oil and gas, timber and fish are important to income and welfare in Norway. Jacobsen writes: “… But we became a civilised people in the end, seafarers from the start, rulers of the whole of the North Atlantic. And now we are reaping black gold from the seabed (…)” And So do not …….. dwell in a dream for we await your hands and goodwill. We should hope that we have become a civilised people – but we should not believe that we can safeguard welfare simply by reaping black gold from the seabed. Welfare is secured by putting hands back to work, productive labour and the willingness to change – and of no less importance by protecting the environment. 20  20  A previous translation of the poem does not exist. The verses included in the address have been translated by Norges Bank's staff translators Janet Aagenæs and Helle Snellingen. BIS Review 15/2007

In Malaysia, solutions tested in the Bank’s regulatory sandbox enabled the Bank to design regulatory safeguards that would allow the implementation of end-to-end electronic know-yourcustomer processes for the provision of remittance services. By dispensing with the need to conduct physical face-to-face verifications, this is expected to significantly expand access to remittance services for customers working and living in remote parts of Malaysia, while effectively addressing money laundering and terrorist financing risks. Bank Negara Malaysia also successfully collaborated with the World Bank and the money services business industry in Malaysia to pilot and adopt solutions that have expanded the reach and reduced the costs of formal remittances. Second, policy life cycles will need to be managed more proactively, to allow for policies to be renewed when conditions change. While much is often said about policy stability, policies that fail to keep pace with conditions that are changing far more rapidly than we have experienced before, can be counterproductive at best, and at worst, create greater risks for the system. The SDGs are undeniably one of the most comprehensive attempts to capture the most important global challenges that we face. Solutions to these challenges will invariably create new issues for policy makers to consider. This in turn will lead to shorter policy life cycles, and a need for faster policy responses to emerging issues. Third, we need better remittance data. It is encouraging that efforts are being taken to ensure the availability of official global data sources on remittance flows.
The world, in my view, is now obsessed with just a few things. I would like to highlight them in turn. First, the prospect of QE tapering is having wide implications for financial markets. We have already seen a sell-off of emerging market debts and equities, and a reversal of foreign capital flows that had rushed into the region earlier this year. With uncertainty in the amount of global liquidity provided by major central banks like the Fed, we will likely see more volatile capital flows, exchange rate and commodity prices going forward. Second, financial markets are watching closely Abe’s plan to revive the Japanese economy. Its effectiveness, especially of its third-arrowed plan of structural reform, will be significant for global outlook and the degree of risk aversion in general. If the third arrow has failed before it even properly began, the economic momentum running by the previous arrows – monetary and fiscal stimulus – would be weakened. Third, signs of Chinese economy and emerging markets slowdown have already started to affect world growth. With prolonged recovery in G3 countries, the last hope for global recovery seems fading. China’s aim to tame its real estate boom and inflation resulted in the economy slowing more quickly than initially hoped. So the slowdown of China will undoubtedly be a key risk to the global economy. Consequences for the Thai economy Along with weaker global outlook, the Thai economy this year started out with much moderation.

Prasarn Trairatvorakul: Navigating through volatility with long-term focus Speech by Dr Prasarn Trairatvorakul, Governor of the Bank of Thailand, at the Association of International Banks (AIB) Dinner Speaker Series, Bangkok, 29 July 2013. *  *  *  Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank the Association of International Banks for inviting me to give a talk this evening. It is my honor and pleasure to be here for the prominent institution that has its presence in Thailand since 1996. The association’s work and efforts have contributed significantly towards the strength of the Thai banking system as well as economic prosperity here in this country. For this special evening, I would like to share with you my views on the recent economic and financial challenges, as well as the Bank of Thailand’s role in safeguarding economic and financial stability. Navigating through volatility Over the past few years, we have gone through many economic surprises. Last year alone the Thai economy had to face several challenges, both inside and outside Thailand – recovering from the devastating floods and coping with fragile global economy. And just a few months ago we only just started talking about a pick-up in global growth, driven mainly by robust demand in emerging markets. Today, circumstances have changed, and we are facing with unexpected slowdown in emerging markets as well as the prospect of Fed QE tapering. As far as global economic environment is concerned, I think we are going to see a lot more surprises.
Now, however, we know that there were hidden vulnerabilities in the banks’ capital positions. There was also a failed attempt to nationalise one of the banks in late September 2008. It was indeed fortunate that it did fail, as nationalising the bank would have turned a bank foreign currency refining problem into a sovereign problem, with the serious risk that the sovereign might have defaulted on such foreign currency payments. In this light, and given the lack of international cooperation, the Icelandic authorities were forced to consider radical solutions. Although they were not necessarily articulated fully at the time, these solutions entailed several goals: preserving a functioning domestic payment system, ring-fencing the sovereign in the case of bank failures, limiting the socialisation of private sector losses, and creating the conditions for rebuilding a domestic banking system. In essence, the adopted solution saved the domestic operations of the banking system by splitting up the banks and allowing the international part to go into a resolution process. Furthermore, in order to stop an incipient run on domestic deposits, all deposits in Iceland were declared safe and all deposits in Icelandic-headquartered banks were given priority over other unsecured claims. As a result of these measures, the domestic payment system functioned more or less seamlessly throughout, and common citizens had continuous access to their deposits. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  There are still a number of misconceptions about this process in international discussions.

Partly, therefore, a downgrade by one or two  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  notches within an investment-grade category could be consistent with my view. Then, on top of that, there is a significant amount of evidence to suggest that ratings do not see through the cycle. So the rating agencies and the markets are probably overestimating sovereign risk at the current juncture, in the same way that they underestimated it prior to the crisis. There is one important proviso to this statement, however: the negative feedback loop between sovereign risk and bank fragility, which in historical terms has been particularly severe in the recent period. Thus, for some countries, the markets might be factoring in further socialisation of private sector losses. Therefore, in addition to medium-term fiscal consolidation, a weakening of the nexus between sovereign risk and banking fragility is key. And that is where Iceland comes in. The collapse of Iceland’s three cross-border banks in early October 2008 was the most noticeable event in the unfolding of the financial crisis that hit the country that year. The combined balance sheets of these banks was 10 times Iceland’s GDP, and their combined bankruptcy, measured in terms of balance sheets, ranks second in size in the international history of corporate failures, only after Lehman Brothers. And this happened in a country that ranks among the smallest in the world.