samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Both factors are viewed today as important elements in the quest for stable prices which are a prerequisite for sound economic development. Stable prices can only be achieved when those responsible for monetary policy are in a position to take decisions based on a longer-term view. Short-term activism, caused by an attempt to finetune the economy, invariably results in higher inflation, higher interest rates and a loss of credibility. Giving the central bank a clear goal and protecting it from outside interference is thus a basic ingredient of a successful monetary policy. Viewed from that angle, the ECB is in a comfortable position. However, a good legal framework is not sufficient for ensuring a successful monetary union. The ECB must also be in a position to conduct a coherent monetary policy for all participating countries. There will no longer be a German monetary policy and there will no longer be a French monetary policy: There will only be a European monetary policy. It will thus no longer be possible to conduct a monetary policy that is in tune solely with the economic situation in a specific country. For a European monetary policy to be successful, the economic situation in the member states of EMU must therefore be comparable. To put it another way: the economic situation in the participating countries should converge before EMU starts. The EU tries to achieve convergence by making membership of the EMU subject to a country’s ability to satisfy so-called convergence criteria.

There are, however, still various risks associated with the introduction of a single currency. Two I would like to mention: First, problems related to the decision on which countries are allowed to participate right from the start, and second, problems related to the transition period. In an ideal world, the decision on which countries can participate in EMU would be based primarily on economic factors. Given the various expectations associated with the single currency, it is unavoidable that EMU is as much a political as it is an economic project. The decision on membership will thus be influenced by both political and economic factors. As the likelihood rises that some important countries will not be able to comply strictly with the convergence criteria, political factors will become more important. A loose interpretation of the convergence criteria for some countries would make it politically much more difficult to exclude other countries, which also miss some convergence criteria, from participating in the EMU. Depending on how well this selection process is handled, expectations about the future course of monetary policy by the ECB will be either positively or negatively affected. Should political BIS Review 102/1997  -4-  factors unduly dominate economic factors, there is undoubtedly a potential for creating expectations about a less than optimal degree of political independence for the ECB. The ECB would therefore face an uphill battle at the start of EMU.
Still others fault inappropriate government policies and perhaps complacency in not taking early action. BIS Review 91/1997  -5-  All in all a rather confusing picture. At the risk of causing even greater confusion, let me try to identify and articulate the monetary problems that Asian economies have been facing. 23. Capital inflow must be at the top of the list. At the beginning of the decade, net capital inflow to emerging markets was less than $ billion a year. By 1996, however, this had increased to $ billion. Asia has received roughly half of this capital inflow, thanks to the rather attractive basic economic fundamentals. These fundamentals, incidentally, have remained attractive today, notwithstanding the recent turmoil in Asian financial markets. The key factors that contributed to the surge in capital flows into the region include Japan’s willingness to export capital as a result of sustained and large current account surpluses. The rising costs of production in Japan, associated with the appreciation of the yen have forced many Japanese firms to relocate their production to the rest of Asia. Also contributing was the low interest rate policy in the industrial economies, particularly in Japan in the post-bubble phase, which has flooded the global market with liquidity. Increasing amounts of mutual funds and pension funds of these economies looked for higher returns in the emerging markets.

Then there are the more forward-looking arrangements for the development and linkages of elements of the financial infrastructure to facilitate the efficient and safe financial intermediation across monetary systems. 13. Obviously no one point on this wide spectrum of international monetary co-operation can be considered as the ideal situation. Much depends on the needs arising from the circumstances, and the circumstances are changing all the time. But along with financial liberalization and the globalization of financial markets, the trend, to the extent that one can be ascertained, seems clearly to be one of increasing monetary co-operation. As is well known, European monetary co-operation is aiming for monetary integration by 1999, having moved in the past 50 years from BIS Review 91/1997  -3-  information exchange to policy co-ordination. Whether this could be achieved on time or not, and whether monetary integration should necessarily then be considered as the final goal of monetary co-operation in other regions, we shall have to wait and see. But one has to admire the vision of the pioneer thinkers. I understand that the French economist Jacques Rueff actually declared way back in the 1950s that “Europe will be created via a currency or not at all”. 14. By contrast, Asian monetary co-operation is considerably less well structured. There is traditionally some exchange of information, mostly on a bilateral basis, through meetings conducted annually, and largely prior to a game of golf or even on the golf course.
The needs are huge, and the goal of increasing assets held in retirement savings products from EUR 200 billion to EUR 300 billion is well within our reach. I would also stress the need to ensure that policyholders are adequately informed about retirement savings products, especially – as with all unit-linked products – if they do not include a capital guarantee. Within Europe, the forthcoming Solvency 2 review must include a full and frank assessment of the framework that has now been in place for three years. Of course, insurers have significantly improved their risk and capital management under Solvency 2, and the insurance market is now more resilient and better equipped to cope with financial crises. But these positives must not be allowed to overshadow the questions that need to be asked after such a radical change, particularly about the impact on equity investment and the financing of the European economy, along with issues relating to volatility and complexity. The very fact that we’re calling it a “review” for 2020 means that, by definition, maintaining the status quo cannot be an option. As the preparatory work gets underway, I would like to see every topic, even the most awkward, raised and dealt with. I urge insurers to play an active role in the consultations and I can assure you that the ACPR will make its presence felt in the coming discussions.

I recommend giving it a read: the report itself is a treasure trove of data, and the results do you credit. The average solvency capital requirement (SCR) coverage ratio on the French market climbed from 222% in 2016 to 238% in 2017. What’s more, in the first quarter of 2018, the French insurance market overtook Germany and the United Kingdom to become Europe’s number-one market, with over EUR 35 billion in direct premiums written in non-life insurance and over EUR 2.100 trillion in technical provisions. It also leads in investment capacity: commanding total assets of EUR 2.7 trillion in September 2018, France’s insurance sector is far and away the largest institutional investor in Europe, accounting for over one-third of the total assets of euro area insurers. In comparison, France makes up 21% of euro area GDP. Insurers, then, are a crucial asset for France, and their critical role in financing the economy can and indeed must grow further. Corporate equity is vital to innovation and hence to a vibrant economy, but in mid-2018 equity was equivalent to just 77% of GDP in the euro area and 76% in France, compared with 124% in the United States. II. Tapping into regulatory opportunities. I would like to start this section off by noting that France’s introduction of a flat tax on capital income on 1 January has not had the slightest detrimental effect on life insurance, despite fears on this score within your industry.
But equally it would be wrong to jump to the opposite extreme, given there are clearly major welfare gains from improved choice of financial products and better matching of risks. 41 So what are some of the lessons for financial innovation? What will the landscape look like in 5-10 years’ time, once the dust has settled and institutional changes can be implemented to address the frictions identified? What if anything can policy do to facilitate or expedite this process of adjustment? 42 A first observation is that it is important to distinguish between different financial products. As shown in Table 1, there has been a huge dispersion in activity in different innovative products over the past year. For example, the corporate CDS market grew by 36% in the second half of 2007 and appears to be underpinned by strong demand. Other derivative and option markets have also continued to grow very rapidly. But on the other hand, new issues of corporate CDOs, CLOs and ABS CDOs have virtually completely stopped. Complex structured products with a high premium on information requirements and with a high bespoke element have thus fared much worse than simpler innovative instruments where there is more natural two-way trading and liquidity. Moreover, it is important not to lose sight that the success of some products and failure of others is a standard feature of the innovation process and of a competitive economy.

An investor wanting to make an inter-temporal transfer without taking on any credit risk, for example, could then buy a bond and purchase credit default swap protection, thus retaining exposure to the cash flows on the risk free component of the underlying instrument. Synthetically, this expands the volume of low risk investment portfolios. On the other side, a market is created for those who specifically want to trade default risk which allows cleaner pricing of this dimension of risk. Efficient markets for each element should raise the efficiency of the corporate bond market as a whole, with attendant benefits for both borrowers and investors. •  Furthermore, because credit default swaps have different maturities, investors could, for example, buy the corporate bond and retain the resulting exposure to default risk in the near term. But they could also buy protection against default at longer horizons, about which they may be more uncertain. •  Moreover, nominal corporate bonds can also be separated into a nominal and inflation-linked risk component if the corporate also issues inflation-indexed bonds. BIS Review 93/2008  3  Investors can utilise these instruments to buy or sell protection against exposure to inflation risk. As noted above, the markets for single-name corporate credit default swaps have become more liquid than the underlying bonds given the flexibility and specificity they provide to endinvestors. 9 The underlying components of risk can, of course, also be recombined by financial engineering to create new financial products with different risk characteristics.
Likewise, digital banking has become the norm. A rapidly growing volume of financial transactions in our banks are now performed digitally – be they account opening, signing up for credit cards, or receiving wealth advisory services. A private sector survey of retail customers [8] released earlier this month noted that: 70% of respondents have used online banking frequently since the start of the pandemic. 80% of Singaporeans agree that they will continue to bank online even after the pandemic dies down. Businesses too are making greater use of online financial services and channels. MAS is pleased that our financial institutions are stepping up their digitalisation efforts despite the challenging economic environment. The take-up of the Digital Acceleration Grant that was announced in April as part of the $ million support package has been very encouraging. More than 350 financial institutions and FinTech firms have applied for the grant to adopt digital solutions to strengthen operational resilience, improve productivity, and better manage risks and engage customers. We are also pleased that the FinTech sector is alive and kicking despite COVID-19. FinTech firms in Singapore have raised $ million in equity funding in the first half of this year, 19% higher than over the same period last year. This is further boosted with $ million in M&A. That this was achieved at the height of the COVID-19 crisis demonstrates investors’ confidence in the long-term value FinTech firms will create. We now have an estimated 1000 FinTech firms in Singapore, compared to 600 last year.

In other words, their use has been driven by purely economic and commercial motives. 17. The growing concerns over SWFs and various proposals to restrict either the mode of their investments or areas in which they might invest are signs of a worrying trend of rising investment protectionism, and pose a risk to international financial stability. We are  4  BIS Review 51/2008  sympathetic to concerns in recipient countries and acknowledge that these worries, if left unaddressed, would only increase protectionist sentiments. In our last meeting, the IMFC called on the IMF to play a role in identifying best practices for SWFs. We share the view that as a multilateral platform, the Fund could play a useful role in this area, by allowing issues to be discussed in an open and neutral manner. We welcome the inclusive, collaborative, and voluntary approach taken by the Fund. The principles should focus on governance, institutional arrangement, and transparency and be co-written by the SWFs and for the SWFs, hence would help increase ownership of the best practices, which is critical to its successful adoption. We also welcome the parallel work undertaken by the OECD in drawing up a similar set of guidelines for recipient countries to forestall the risk of protectionism. It is highly important that in drafting such guidelines, the standards for SWFs should not be more onerous than for other large institutional investors. Conclusion 18.
The gross domestic savings have been even lower over the last five years, swinging around 2.5% of GDP, on average. Since 1995, the gross investments have virtually never exceeded 20% of GDP. The foreign investments, except in the years of large  BIS Review 25/2007  1  privatizations by foreign companies, are also low, barely 2% of GDP, on average, in the last 4 years. The total bank assets, even though registering a fast growth over the last years, making up roughly 50% of GDP, still shows low level of financial intermediation in the country. The above figures were target of a deep impact of the external shocks the country suffered, besides, of course, the inexcusable delay of many essential reforms of the vital sectors of the country.

Dear guests, The fact that the leaders of this Fund offered to present their financial services in the Republic of Macedonia, the Central Bank certainly encouraged and supported this initiative, shows that these important partners consider the Republic of Macedonia a friendly environment for launching various mutually beneficial business initiatives and projects. Yet, we do not forget though, that some of these institutions had no doubts whatsoever about the Republic of Macedonia even in the most difficult periods for us after gaining the independence, since when nobody else was coming, they were here. We certainly appreciate that. Regardless of all above, we still have many reasons that urge us to notice and convince others why is it good to invest in the Republic of Macedonia and to develop partnership with our economic agents and, of course, to inform on the activities that all of us in our country perform, directed towards increasing the attractiveness of the Republic of Macedonia as investment destination. Hence, we definitely need such financial offers. The economic growth could be accelerated by more investments, competitive offer of financial instruments and products, which are likely to eventually bring about lower costs for borrowing capital. The potential investors should be aware that the Macedonian financial sector is booming, but that the room for investments is yet to be opened. The gross national savings is low, not more than 12-17% of GDP, over the recent several years.
Looking at the size of the largest firm’s assets in relation to GDP across a spectrum of industries, finance is by far the largest (Chart 22). The extent of balance sheet growth was, if anything, understated by banks’ reported assets. Accounting and regulatory policies permitted banks to place certain exposures off-balance sheet, including special purpose vehicles and contingent credit commitments. Even disclosures of on-balance sheet positions on derivatives disguised some information about banks’ contingent exposures. This rapid expansion of the balance sheet of the banking system was not accompanied by a commensurate increase in its equity base. Over the same 130 year period, the capital ratios of banks in the US and UK fell from around 15–25% at the start of the 20th century to around 5% at its end (Chart 23). In other words, on this metric measures of balance sheet leverage rose from around 4-times equity capital in the early part of the previous century to around 20 times capital at the end. If anything, the pressure to raise leverage increased further moving into this century. Measures of gearing rose sharply between 2000 and 2008 among the major global banks, other than US commercial banks which were subject to a leverage ratio constraint (Chart 24). Once adjustments are made to on- and off-balance sheet assets and capital to give a more comprehensive cross-country picture, levels of gearing are even more striking.

The today initiative is a significant event, to sustain the growth of financing for this vital part of the economy and it will help to soften the negative impacts of the world economy slowdown. I encourage the banking system and the other players of the market to undertake similar initiatives in order to not impede the financing of small projects, which owns the possibility to be transformed into profitable enterprises. At the same time to maintain a stable and long-term progress of the country, in line with its European aspirations, the banking system should go on the way toward the perfection of service versus the clients, the intensification of communication and public education. Bank of Albania believes that the sources of the stable growth for the mid-term and long-term period consist not only on the encouragement of the work productivity increase or of the investments in industry and construction, but also in other strategic sectors. For the Albanian economy as a developing economy, domestic investments and foreign direct investments in strategic sectors as tourism and infrastructure shall be a real foundation to the economic growth. The positive chain effects are expected to be reflected on the preservation of the steady growth rhythms. Hence, the overall macroeconomic stability will be seen as a precondition in promoting the further intensification of the domestic and foreign investments.
Page 19 of 19 But nobody, from central government to various locally elected representatives, appears ready to give up ground. Is it illusory, for example, to dream of the principle of one entity being in charge of one area of expertise? It may be instructive to take a look at how the Germans make their federalism work in practice. *** To conclude, yes, there is still hope... because, as Paul Éluard so aptly put it, "There is another world, but it is inside this one"... especially if we combine a number of ingredients – in which I firmly believe – to cure our current democratic malaise. (i) First, a long-term perspective and perseverance, free from shorttermism; (ii) a focus on ex-post results, rather than merely surrendering to the tyranny of media announcement effects; (iii) clarity of responsibilities and management autonomy, rather accumulating expertise and creating ‘rival power bases'; (iv) and mutual enrichment between academic reflection and economic action - I see this as a positive thing for monetary policy, and I hope it will be for transforming public services. And what better place for believing in these things than right here in the Académie des sciences morales et politiques? Thank you for your attention. Page 20 of 19 Sauvé, J.M., Où va l'État ?, Speech, Conseil d’Etat, 8 April 2013. de Tocqueville, A., L’Ancien Régime et la Révolution (1856).

Unfortunately, the law of entropy gets in the way, with ever more complex legislation and administrative procedures. xix This complexity hurdle primarily hurts the most insecure and vulnerable groups. xx This situation is detrimental to inclusion and trust as well as to our country's competitiveness and attractiveness: an abundance of regulations reduces competition, discourages entrepreneurs and hampers productive investment. We need to learn to regularly "take a broom" to those constraints that are vestiges of the past or which are no longer useful. This requires a massive, structured and costed simplification drive. The recent announcement by the Minister of Transformation and Public Services xxi of a plan to simplify procedures for citizens at ten key moments in their lives is a step in the right direction. To be able to simplify processes, we also need to invest in the digitalisation of tasks and applications: these can represent a crucial source of innovation and time saved for employees. Alas, the most telling example of administrative complexity can be found in the territorial organisation of our public action, which now comprises a whole stack of departments and local levels, characterised by overlapping responsibilities. The least we can say is that this situation is "not conducive to improving the service provided to households and businesses, nor to making public action more efficient". xxii There is widespread dissatisfaction with the loss of responsibility - who gets to decide what? - the time lost and the additional costs.