samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
• We have also set up a deal making platform called MATCH, or Meet ASEAN’s Talents and Champions) [15] , to connect global capital and the ASEAN enterprise community in 2018. This will help to grow the pipeline of companies that will eventually require listing in our public markets. • Singapore also organises the annual Singapore FinTech Festival (SFF) and this will be combined with the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) that is coming up on the 11-15th November, to provide a platform for industry players to gain greater understanding of fintech applications and developments as well as support innovative solutions to find commercialisation opportunities. • SGX is also working with licensed private market platforms to facilitate the listing process for portfolio companies. Such platforms provide PE/VC managers with opportunities to invest or exit, and provide a pipeline of companies that could list on SGX. Such private-public markets partnerships can serve as an engine of growth for our public markets and provide support for enterprises throughout their corporate lifecycle. 28 Đ Đ In keeping up with changes in our public markets, such as the rise of neweconomy start-ups and technology firms, exchanges have continued to innovate to provide product owerings that support the varying needs of these companies. • For example, SGX has joined global exchanges in Canada, Europe, and the US, in introducing the Dual Class Share (DCS) structure to support firms which have shares with diwerent voting rights to raise funds.

The banking system in Singapore is well-placed to ride the current soft patch in economic conditions. •  First, banks in Singapore are well provisioned against potential losses. The banking system has set aside provisions to cover more than 100% of its NPLs. •  Second, the major banks in Singapore have sufficient liquid assets to meet continuous cash outflows over a 30-day period of high stress. •  Third, MAS’ annual industry-wide stress tests indicate that the banking system would remain resilient under very severe stress scenarios. Banks incorporated in Singapore have healthy capital buffers that are able to absorb the losses that are likely to occur under these severe scenarios. Banks in Singapore are also able to meet liquidity and funding needs under these extreme scenarios. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  The financial centre: clean and trusted The growth of our financial centre has been underpinned by Singapore’s reputation as a clean and trusted jurisdiction. Upholding high standards of integrity in the financial industry is an absolute priority for MAS. There can be no compromise on this. This means having an effective regime against financial misconduct and misdemeanours, and money laundering and terrorism financing. These threats have escalated in recent years as our financial centre grew in scale, sophistication, and connectedness with the rest of the world. Take financial misconduct. You would recall the widespread manipulation of interest rate benchmarks by errant traders across the world’s major financial centres in the aftermath of the financial crisis. And it happened here too.
Securitisation means that a given loan stock with the collateral pertaining to it is lifted out of the balance sheet in the housing loan institution and invested in a company separately created for the purpose (a so-called special purpose vehicle), which is then financed in the market by issuing bonds. This company has a clearly defined risk scenario and does not carry out any activity besides holding the specified loans. It need not therefore be subject to the capital adequacy rules that apply for housing loan institutions. Assume that the housing loan institution must set aside four million kronor of a loan stock of 100 million while the market accepts financing the securitised stock with a capital of 1 million kronor in the company created for the purpose. If the stock provides a return of SEK400,000 after financing and operating expenses, this gives a return on capital in the housing loan institution of 10% before tax. The same loan invested in the special company will provide a return on capital of 40% before tax. A buffer for investors can also be added on via credit guarantees, which further reduce the requirement of equity. A number of objections can be raised to this example, but it serves well to illustrate the driving mechanism behind a securitisation. In practice there are many difficulties.

In reality, however, we all know that the nature of the problem of achieving such an ideal solution is as much political as it is economic. And nowhere is this tension more palpable than it is in the realm of exchange rate  2  BIS Review 107/2007  and capital account regimes. There are strong and vocal constituencies that are averse to currency appreciation and part of them averse to variability in the exchange rate itself. Not unlike today’s political economy in advanced countries, emerging market politics also risks being less favorable to openness, but more partial to protection of selected industries or protectionism in general. In emerging markets, the political economy and policy tension are even more complex because our markets and institutions are still developing. Hence, the struggle between financial integration and financial stability requires from us a deft balancing act. As such, I hope you appreciate that, when it comes to policy, there is risk in change as well as in inertia. I hope that you also appreciate that if advanced countries pursue more protectionist stance, emerging markets would likely follow suit. One might ask: How then has the Bank of Thailand handled this tension and what is our strategy going forward? My answer to you is that we make every effort to get the economic fundamentals right and strengthening them. But as our financial and capital markets are small, thin, and still developing, we have adopted a balanced approach to managing capital flows under flexible exchange rate.
If that were the path followed by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it could be a recipe for another “i” – inequality – as various studies have shown.28 Earlier industrial revolutions were also associated with rising levels of inequality, at least in their initial phase. Against a background of uncomfortably high starting levels of inequality in some countries, that could raise already-grave concerns about the inclusiveness of societies. Just in case I haven’t depressed you enough already, it is possible to paint a more dystopian picture still. The science fiction writer Raymond Kurtzweil, among others, has speculated about the possibility of a “singularity” – a point where machines surpass the functioning of the brain in every task.29 Estimates vary on when this point might be reached, if ever. But a number place it this century. The singularity, were it to arrive, would mark a second inflexion point for humankind. The course of human history, beyond that singularity point, is not just unknown but unknowable. It is, by definition, beyond the limits of even our imagination. At that point, human control over our own destinies could be lost forever. This is not biological extinction, in the sense of dinosaurs and dodos. But it could be neurological extinction. Were the singularity to arrive, some have argued this would take societies to their next evolutionary state.30 If Life Version 1.0 was defined by biology and Version 2.0 by neurology, then Version 3.0 would be defined by technology.

If you asked who or what was the best chess player in the world today the answer would be a human, albeit a human working with a machine. Chess has followed a co-evolutionary arc. Perhaps this is simply a matter of time. But our brains themselves are far from static. This is not a case of technological hare racing neurological tortoise. Our brains are more energy-efficient than super-computers, by a factor of perhaps 1,000.35 One reason is because they are hyper-connected, with around 100 billion neurons each with 1,000-10,000 connections. No digital web comes even close to this scale of connectivity. Moreover, these connections are not static; they are hyper-flexible. Our brains are not a plug wired once. They are constantly re-wiring themselves, a phenomenon known as neuro-plasticity.36 Unlike biological adaptation, this re-wiring takes place relatively rapidly and can be significant. This rewiring is particularly significant at times of extreme shifts in environment – for example, personal trauma or technological change. Guttenberg’s printing press did not just spark Shakespeare’s imagination. It sparked a re-wiring of all of our brains.37 As communication switched from word to print, different neurological processes were needed for comprehension and deliberation. In response our brains adapted, as had our homo sapiens brains years earlier. The future AI revolution could generate a similar re-wiring of the super-computer between our ears. Perhaps it has already started. When the AlphaGo algorithm beat Lee Sedol in 2016 the decisive move came in Game 2, Move 37.
That’s where the crisis starts. It is important to note the asymmetry in these developments: imbalances are slow to build up but very fast to unwind. And the adjustment process can be disorderly and traumatic. What role does monetary policy play? In a very basic sense, monetary policy is about determining the level of short-term interest rates. And it is equally basic to state that the interest rate is the price of liquidity. Therefore, it may happen that, because inflation is contained, interest rates are kept at a low level, and liquidity is cheap and easily accessible for financial intermediaries. In turn, abundant liquidity may increase risk appetite, induce  BIS Review 147/2009  1  maturity transformation and lead to growth in leverage. This has been called the "risk-taking channel” of monetary policy. Ultimately, it creates a link between the level of interest rates and those of risk premia. And this, of course, means that movements in interest rates have, all other things being equal, a bigger (and possibly less predictable) impact on the financial system, credit aggregates and asset prices. A lot of work remains to be done to precisely quantify that channel and disentangle its effects from those of the more "traditional” credit channel. Nevertheless it is clear that, in the future, central banks will need to pay greater attention to the impact of their decisions on the level of risk in the financial system. Some analysts would go a step further.

Price stability itself has coincided with – some would say produced – a prolonged period of strong growth and low output volatility, which, as you know, has been dubbed the “great moderation". One major disappointment however, has been that price stability has not led to financial stability. On the contrary, it seems that, over the last two decades, financial crises have become more frequent, with increasingly serious consequences for growth and welfare. To get a sense of this puzzle, it may be useful to look at the intrinsic dynamics of the financial system. Both in normal times and times of stress, amplification mechanisms are at work, which exacerbate the impact of any specific shock. These mechanisms act through changes in leverage, liquidity, and risk aversion. These three factors interact in a complex and sometimes unpredictable way. For instance, growth in leverage may be fuelled by an increase in risk appetite. In turn, larger balance sheets of financial intermediaries give rise to liquidity expansion and growing risk appetite. It is easy to see how these dynamics can create strong procyclicality in the evolution of asset prices and credit aggregates. It is also likely that procyclicality is partly created, or accentuated, by our accounting and prudential regimes. If financial procyclicality was a short-term, mean-reverting, phenomenon, there would be little cause for concern. Unfortunately, those same mechanisms allow for the progressive buildup, over a long period of time, of significant imbalances and deviations in asset prices. At some stage, the correction becomes unavoidable, and is generally abrupt.
BIS central bankers’ speeches  These inflationary pressures from the global economy are closely linked to the strong growth in Asia and other emerging markets, which is projected to continue for some time. This means we cannot simply regard them as one-off shocks which will fade away. And just as the MPC has adjusted to changes in global growth and inflation in the past, we need to be prepared to do so now – in a gradual and measured way. The argument that these recent developments in the global economy can be ignored by monetary policy because they emanate overseas is not consistent with the previous responses of the MPC to changes in the global growth and inflation climate. That includes the dramatic monetary policy relaxation in late 2008 and 2009 in response to the global recession triggered by the financial crisis. Issue 2: The role of sterling in UK monetary policy One obvious way in which a tightening in UK monetary policy might affect our exposure to imported inflationary pressures is through its impact on the value of the pound. And this is the second key area where I see my view diverging from the majority of MPC members at present. In my view, the external value of the pound is a key channel of UK monetary policy and I would have expected the policy that I have been advocating – of gradually raising interest rates – to exert some upward pressure on the value of sterling on the foreign exchanges.

Positive developments in the external sector of the economy, primarily owing to expansion of exports and foreign currency inflows from the Eurobond, contributed to the generation of contained pressures in the foreign exchange market. From the macroeconomic viewpoint,  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  relative exchange rate stability during the year reflected a new equilibrium in foreign currency demand and supply. In sectorial terms, the Albanian economy development relied chiefly on growth of industry and services sectors, while construction sector continued to contract in 2010. Industry and services sectors benefited, to a great extent, respectively, from foreign demand and structural shift of the domestic demand to short-term consumption goods. In the short- and mid-term horizon, both sectors are expected to remain the main supporting pillars of the Albanian economy. Agriculture, the other important sector of the Albanian economy, marked a positive performance in 2010. Even so, based on the broader concentration of the country’s population and the great potential for development, the increase in this sector’s productivity remains a long-term priority. Money and financial markets Monetary developments in the past year were in line with the performance of the real sector of the economy, reflecting simultaneously the fully restored confidence in the financial system, improved supply and demand ratios in the financial markets and prudent liquidity management policy of the Bank of Albania. Expansion of monetary stock by 10.6% on average complied with the economy’s demand for money and did not trigger any inflationary tendencies in the economy.
To the extent that the US financial system does not generate enough “pure” safe assets, this creates an incentive for the financial sector to manufacture such assets from the securitization of lower quality ones, but at the cost of greatly increased financial fragility (Caballero, 2009). The policy consequences are important. 1. First, current account imbalances will likely prove more resilient than expected to exchange rate movements or inflexions in macro policies. If the causes are "structural”, significant shifts in demand and relative prices between countries may well lead to suboptimal growth and excess volatility. In the immediate future, “financing “ those imbalances should take precedence over their “adjustment”. 2. Second, global imbalances reflect a mix of different national preferences and inflexions caused by public interventions. One important focus in the policy debate should be to disentangle those two types of structural causes, and eliminate pure policy induced distortions. Obviously, this is no easy task, but, in the end, a crucial one if imbalances are to be addressed and reduced. 3. Finally, financial development matters. This is one area where preferences differ between nations and public policies have a huge impact. This is also a source of major uncertainty for the future. In a more diverse, multipolar world, interactions between countries with different financial systems will become more complex and, as the crisis has shown, very destabilizing. Will there be a move towards liberalisation of capital accounts or will existing restrictions and controls be maintained in some parts of the world?

M R Chatu Mongol Sonakul: Corporate challenges in the new millennium Speech by M R Chatu Mongol Sonakul, Governor of the Bank of Thailand, at the Annual Business Awards Gala Dinner of the Netherlands-Thai Chamber of Commerce held in Bangkok, 17 May 2001. *  *  *  Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, First, let me thank Mr. Jan de Kam, President of the Netherlands-Thai Chamber of Commerce for inviting me to give the Keynote Address for this Annual Business Awards Gala Dinner, an occasion that exemplifies the co-operative relationship between the Netherlands and Thailand that dated back through time since 1602. At the time, the Dutch East India Company had already begun trading with the southern part of Siam through their main trading station in Batavia, Indonesia. Several years later, it opened its Ayutthaya trading post and became very influential during the reign of King Prasat-Thong. And indeed, one of the best historical accounts of the Ayutthaya Dynasty was written by a director of the Dutch East India Company in Siam, Mr. Jeremias van Vliet. Now in 2001, our co-operative relationship continues. Many prominent corporations of the Netherlands remain their presence in Thailand, including Philips, Shell (Royal Dutch), Unilever, Heineken, and ABN AMRO, only to name a few. By now, it is generally accepted that the tide of globalization is here to stay.
But before the minutes are published it is the majority line that applies when we Executive Board members make speeches outside of the Riksbank. After that we members are each free to describe our personal differences of opinion regarding the interest rate decision. Constant assessment means that we are always prepared for change Let me round off. Today I have talked about the major changes in recent years in the way we produce material used as a base for our interest rate decisions. Some of these have come about because the methods of making forecasts in general have developed, something that also affects other central banks. Other changes have been shaped by the specific conditions that apply in Sweden. The Riksbank’s independent position makes demands on us to be open and clear, what economists usually term transparency. The Riksbank’s decision to begin publishing its own forecasts for the repo rate is a step in the work on increasing transparency and further improving our analysis. 10 The new assumption for the repo rate has led to the Executive Board becoming more involved in the forecasting process. We are constantly evaluating our forecasts to see how successful they are at capturing developments. This also means we are constantly striving to improve our ways of working. If we make any major changes that have significance for our forecasts we will of course let you know.

To give the general public insight into the decision-making process and to make it easier to assess our activities, we take minutes at the meeting which the bank then publishes. As of summer 2007, we also write the member’s names in the minutes. The minutes are published around two weeks after the monetary policy meeting. Interest rate decision announced on the day after the monetary policy meeting A press release is published the day after each monetary policy meeting. This contains the most important reasons for and considerations behind the majority decision. The press release also contains the Riksbank’s forecasts for economic activity and inflation and a description of what monetary policy is currently considered to be well balanced. In connection with the publication of the interest rate decision we also hold a press conference where journalists are given the opportunity to ask questions. In connection with three of the monetary policy meetings a Monetary Policy Report is published. On the other occasions a shorter Monetary Policy Update is published instead. This contains a more limited number of forecasts for the central macro variables. That is to say, it is the majority view that is reflected in the press releases and the reports. Any differences of opinion can be seen in the minutes of the monetary policy meetings. There it is stated in detail how each of the members has argued and voted.
A consensus has developed among the countries with economic policy aimed at price stability that a reasonable rate of inflation is around 2 per cent. At the same time, I would like to point out that there are no scientific grounds for determining exactly how an inflation target should be formulated. Of course, it is impossible to have the ambition that inflation should always be close to two per cent in all situations. The economy is exposed to unexpected shocks and these cannot be immediately counteracted as monetary policy’s impact comes after a time lag. An attempt to bring inflation back on target too quickly may also lead to unnecessarily large costs for the real economy. Let me explain what I mean here. Monetary policy cares about the real economy If inflation is for some reason above or below the inflation target, it is necessary to decide how quickly it should be brought back on target. In these situations we have good reason and good opportunity to take into account developments in the real economy and not merely in prices. If, for instance, an increase in the price of energy has brought inflation well above two per cent, it would be possible to use a large interest rate hike to quickly bring inflation back on target. However, this has a price in the form of slowing down economic growth.

While educated young people are moving abroad, I invite you to consider investments in technology, not only for the automation of processes, but also as an opportunity to prevent the impoverishment of the labour market, thus contributing to setting up conditions for keeping the qualified labour force in this market, which is also part of the elite clientele of the banking market. In conclusion, let me assure you that the Bank of Albania provides the maximum support and attention to all your proposals, not only in capacity of the regulatory authority, but also, as a loyal, supportive and serious partner, aiming at achieving the common objective, that is a developed market which offers attractive possibilities for investors, for financial stability and a fair competition which respect the consumer’s rights. Our decision-making will be transparent and all our initiatives will be guided by a spirit of cooperation with the banking sector, aiming at ensuring highest efficiency. Thank you for your attention! 3/3  BIS central bankers' speeches