samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Zeti Akhtar Aziz: Benchmark market indices - milestones in financial market progress Speech by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the launch of Citigroup Malaysian Government Bond Index & Dow Jones-RHB Islamic Malaysia Index, “Benchmark Market Indices - Milestones in Financial Market Progress”, Kuala Lumpur, 23 June 2005. *  *  *  Yang Berbahagia Dato' Sri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib, Executive Chairman, RHB Capital, Dr. Zaha Rina Zahari, Chief Executive Officer, RHB Securities, Mr. Piyush Gupta, Country Officer and Chief Executive of Citibank Berhad, Distinguished Guests, Members of the media and Ladies and Gentlemen, "The use of benchmark market indices emerged on the financial scene as early as in the 1880's. In 1884, Charles Dow, journalist and founder of Dow Jones & Company produced the first Dow Jones Index, published in the company's 'Customer Afternoon Letter' which was later to become the Wall Street Journal. Of what we know, Charles Dow had always been a keen market observer. The haphazard idiosyncratic price movements of shares of individual or group of companies indeed did not lend itself to a coherent assessment of the performance of the market nor enable any meaningful analysis of market direction and investors' inclinations. This gave rise to the need for an index that reflects the broad market performance and investors' interest. This first market index was simple. Prices of 11 stocks, the most actively traded on the New York Stock Exchange, were averaged.

They should tell people whether we are meeting our commitments to regulate in a way that harnesses the UK’s strengths as a global financial centre, that maintains trust, and that is tailored to UK circumstances. They should also be designed in a way that is consistent with how Parliament has  Page 8  ranked our objectives – they should make it easy to see how we have pursued our new objective properly subject to advancing our primary objectives. For example, we know that the operational effectiveness of the PRA is important for the UK’s success as a global financial centre. That is why we have committed to increasing the frequency with which we report on our efficiency handling regulatory transactions, including authorisations. We will also provide more information on the time taken to determine cases and provide new breakdowns of these metrics by type of firm. [25] Amongst other things, this will help people understand how long it takes to set up a new bank or insurer – which clearly matters for the UK’s competitiveness. Conclusion Let me briefly sum up. Be in no doubt that our new objective will lead to big changes in how we make rules. We have already been working hard developing our ideas about what competitiveness means for the financial services industry and how it is connected to growth. We have a plan for pursuing the new objective. That plan recognizes the hierarchy of our objectives and it is focussed on what we can control.
The arrangement provides banks with Treasury bills. Banks have used these as collateral for loans, sold them or kept them as liquidity reserves. Norges Bank has also expanded its use of its ordinary instruments. We have supplied additional liquidity through our loan facilities and made arrangements for banks to furnish a greater range of securities as collateral for the loans. We have also provided loans with longer-than-usual maturities. The longest maturities have been two- and three-year loans, which have been geared to small banks. Norges Bank has also supplied NOK through currency swaps and offered US dollar loans to Norwegian banks. Norges Bank entered into a swap agreement with the Federal Reserve, authorising a loan of up to USD 15 billion. The measures have been effective. Money market rates, which for a period were above 8 per cent, are now approximately 3 per cent. In this period Norges Bank reduced the key policy rate by 3.75 percentage points to 2 per cent on 25 March. Banks’ lending rates have decreased considerably. Credit flows have improved, but access to credit is still difficult for enterprises. Money market premiums have fallen. In the first quarter of 2009, premiums on three-month interest rates in Norway stood at 1.2 percentage points. Norwegian money market premiums are expected to edge down ahead in line with premiums in global markets. The global downturn led to a marked fall in prices for oil and other commodities through autumn 2008. Oil prices have for a period hovered around USD 40-50 per barrel.

The authorities in many countries are working to enhance financial market resilience. Three changes are particularly relevant for the Norwegian banking sector: First, for a given risk assessment, capital requirements must be higher. Second, banks must not be allowed to reduce capital below a minimum level even if they extend loans that, according to models, seemingly involve low risk. Third, banks must build up strong capital buffers over and above the minimum requirement in normal times. Then banks would not have to increase capital when the turnaround occurred. On the contrary, they would be able to absorb losses, thereby avoiding the need to ration credit in bad times. Norwegian banks do not have sufficient buffers today to safeguard their own, their shareholders’ or the economy’s best interests. That is why the government is now supplying risk capital. There should be no doubt that banks have the capital they need. In addition, banks’ funding methods make them vulnerable. Earlier, Norwegian banks primarily obtained funds through deposits by households and enterprises. In recent years, banks have borrowed heavily in both domestic and foreign markets. During the crisis, this proved to involve high liquidity risk for banks. Long-term credit markets have now dried up. The government and Norges Bank have therefore taken on the role of lender. In the future, in regulations and in practice, deposits must again take precedence as the largest source of funding for banks. Bonds collateralised by high quality mortgages, so-called cover bonds, will probably also be important.
If they are asked for units to be paid out they have to do so within two or three days. I see a potential risk of liquidity imbalance. That is what worries me the most at the moment. And, while it may not technically be a secondary effect of monetary policy, because its causes are structural, I am concerned by the banking sector’s low profitability. Are you in favour of changing or widening the ECB’s mandate? Or of defining more precisely what is below, but close to, 2%? We have to look at that, yes. The ECB set out its strategy in 1998 and revised it in 2003 and, while it can’t be a change of mandate, since that is defined in the Treaty, we could revisit the definition of price stability. And what are the steps to achieve that? I am in favour of starting the discussion, but we haven’t had it. The President has announced it, but this is not a matter of one or two Governing Council meetings; it is something that must be done without haste, but decisively. What about “helicopter money”, i.e. giving money directly to citizens? No, that has never been considered. But should it be considered, just like changing the mandate? No, absolutely not. There is a lot of talk currently about “Japanification”, about secular stagnation. Add to this demographics and the fact that there is a smaller working population with lower productivity than before. What scares you the most?

Caleb M Fundanga: Brief summary of economic and financial developments in Zambia Speech by Dr Caleb M Fundanga, Governor of the Bank of Zambia, at the official launch of Standard Chartered Bank Crossroads Branch, Lusaka, 25 September 2007. *  *  *  The Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank Zambia, Mr George Sokota Members of the Board of Directors of Standard Chartered Bank Zambia The Managing Director of Standard Chartered Bank Zambia, Mr. Tom Aaker Distinguished Guests Members of the Press And may I simply say Ladies and Gentlemen I am very pleased to be here today to officially open the new Crossroads Branch of Standard Chartered Bank Zambia. Mr. Chairman, as I have stated at various fora before, it is important for banks in Zambia to take the lead in implementing actions, which contribute to the development of the financial infrastructure and support the development of our economy. As you may be aware, Ladies and Gentlemen, we would like banks to: •  Open new branches, such as this one, to enhance convenience for our people to access banking services, thereby improving financial service delivery and empowering our citizens;  •  Provide loans to the productive sector to support economic activity, such as Mr. Sokota just described; and  •  Invest in latest state of the art technology, such as Standard Chartered’s new electronic Branch Banking platform.
President Reagan thought that one element of the American dream is “the opportunity to grow, create wealth, and build a better life for those who follow,” while President Obama has described it as follows: “A child’s course in life should be determined not by the zip code she’s born in, but by the strength of her work ethic and the scope of her dreams.” One’s destination in life should not depend on where the journey begins. Equal opportunity does not imply equal outcomes – some people may work harder, be more fortunate in terms of their disposition and endowments, or just be luckier in how their lives evolve. But it does require that income mobility – in particular, upward mobility – be widely evident and remain part of the fabric of the nation. It is important to keep in mind the distinction between income mobility and income inequality. Income mobility is a dynamic concept – the degree to which individuals or families can move  1  Rajashri Chakrabarti, Andrew Haughwout, Giorgio Topa, Joseph Tracy and Wilbert van der Klaauw assisted in preparing these remarks. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  up or down in the income distribution over time. Income inequality is a static concept – how unequal are individual or family incomes at a particular point in time. Recognizing that rising income inequality in the United States is an important issue, my focus today will be mainly on income mobility. I don’t think the issue of income mobility receives the attention it deserves.

Charter schools have provided another source of school choice in education. More research into evaluating the effectiveness of voucher programs and charter schools at raising student achievement would be desirable in terms of informing public policy choices.8 The importance of education is not limited to elementary and secondary levels. In fact, there exists convincing evidence from the child development literature that suggests that educational investments early in childhood have especially large rates of returns in terms of lifetime earnings and other outcomes. Take, for example, the Perry Preschool program for low-income African-American children, a two-year preschool program experiment in the mid1960s. Recent research shows that this program had very large beneficial long-term effects, with participants experiencing higher rates of high school graduation, higher salaries, higher homeownership, more stable family structures, fewer arrests and lower welfare dependence. The large positive economic externalities from these investments in children imply that such programs more than pay for themselves over the long term. Estimates indicate that the aggregate benefits over the life of a child exceeded by eightfold the program’s per-pupil  6  Chakrabarti and Roy (2015). 7  Hoxby (2003), Chakrabarti (2008) and Chakrabarti (2013). 8  Dobbie and Fryer (2011), Dobbie and Fryer (2015), Angrist, et al. (2016).
Given the importance of achieving control of interest rates, it will be important to be ready to vary the nature of our operations if either effect becomes problematic, for example by: running more frequent OMOs; varying the terms of those OMOs; or amending our standing facilities. We take some comfort from our discussions with banks that their demand for reserves within our framework should keep us on the relatively flat part of the demand for reserves curve, limiting overnight rate volatility. Nevertheless we will continue to deepen our understanding of the demand curve and its drivers through our own analysis, and through further engagement with the market. A second challenge is to ensure that the new system, when in place, works for all market participants. The range and number of participants may well increase over time, and market structures may need to evolve to support the effective transfer of reserves through the system. So we will prioritise work on OMO design to ensure that SMF participants of all types, sizes and sophistication have ready access to reserves. In doing so, we will need to take care not to impede developments in repo and other markets unduly. Conclusions The Bank’s balance sheet will not be returning to its pre-crisis form, even after QT. That reflects the role it needs to play in delivering the Bank’s monetary policy and financial stability objectives in a new environment.

Finally, Bank Negara Malaysia has also put in place business continuity plans as part of its contingency programme to deal with all eventualities and threats to financial stability, in particular, those emanating from a more networked financial system. Similar contingency plans have also been introduced in the domestic financial industry, where regular test-runs are conducted to ensure the integrity of all the back-up systems. Going forward, Central Bank cooperation continues to be enhanced to strengthen risk management capabilities in the Asian network economy. Measures to enhance national surveillance is complemented by cooperation on regional surveillance mechanisms to provide comprehensive oversight over the entire regional network. Closer cooperation with the respective regulators is also important to promote greater understanding of the nature of the risks involved and to facilitate the development of appropriate circuit breakers and mechanisms to contain the risks in the network. In addition to the establishment of Business Continuity Plans to help to mitigate risks arising from outside the financial network, the harmonisation of regulatory and financial standards would facilitate the containment process. These cooperative efforts to harmonise standards are to support financial infrastructure development in facilitating the flow of funds and settlement requirements across borders. Conclusion Datuk Seri Panglima Andrew Sheng's lecture today will explore the behaviour of markets as networks, and the implications of such network behavior on monetary and financial stability in the Asian network economy. Going forward, it can be expected that the Asian networked economy will become increasingly more entrenched.
I shall address policy responses in two steps; first, responses by the ECB and, second, responses by fiscal authorities. Sovereign contagion, the monetary transmission mechanism and the ECB’s Securities Markets Program The intensification over time of the sovereign debt crisis – as also illustrated by the contagion evidence I have just referred to – has presented the ECB with the challenge of preserving the proper functioning of the monetary policy transmission mechanism. In normal times the key interest rates decided by the central bank have an initial impact on short-term interest rates in the money market, and arbitrage relationships further propagate the policy impulse along the maturity spectrum and across different asset classes. Coupled with adjustments of money, credit and financing conditions, monetary policy can ultimately affect prices. The smooth working of this transmission mechanism allows the central bank to fulfil its mandate of maintaining price stability. Security markets, especially sovereign bond markets, have traditionally come to play a distinct role in the transmission of monetary policy in all advanced economies. This occurs  7  P. Donati, (2011), “Modelling spillovers and measuring their impact and persistence: Application to CDS spreads during the euro area sovereign crisis”, unpublished ECB internal manuscript, August. 8  X. Zhang, B. Schwaab and A. Lucas (2011), “Disaster calculus: Joint and conditional measures of euro area sovereign default risk”, unpublished ECB internal manuscript, November. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  via three channels. First, government bonds are often used as a reference rate for pricing loans or other asset classes.

See Panetta, F. (2022), “A digital euro that serves the needs of the public: striking the right balance”, introductory statement at the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament, Brussels, 30 March and ECB (2022), “Digital euro – Privacy options”, presentation to the Eurogroup, 4 April. 4. Panetta, F. (2022), op. cit. 5. Consumers are already increasingly turning to non-cash payments. Only 20% of the cash stock is now used for payments, down from 35% 15 years ago. See Zamora-Pérez, A. (2021), “The paradox of banknotes: understanding the demand for cash beyond transactional use”, Economic Bulletin, Issue 2, ECB, Frankfurt am Main. 6. We are accustomed to using private and public forms of money interchangeably. Euro banknotes and coins are legal tender in the euro area, and cash is the only form of public money to which everyone can have direct access. Confidence in private money – bank deposits, credit cards and e-payment solutions – rests on the ability to convert it, at par, into public money. This allows payment systems to run smoothly and commerce to flow. 7. Panetta, F. (2021), “Central bank digital currencies: a monetary anchor for digital innovation”, speech at the Elcano Royal Institute, Madrid, 5 November. 8. Panetta, F. (2021), “The present and future of money in the digital age”, lecture at Federcasse’s Lectiones cooperativae, Rome, 10 December. 9.
Monetary policy and macro-prudential policy  Taking the role of the financial sector in monetary policy transmission more seriously reveals the macroeconomic consequences of microeconomic behaviour: the impact on inflation, growth and financial stability of the behaviour of financial institutions. As a result, a revised framework has important implications for both the conduct of monetary policy and for policies aimed at maintaining financial stability. Viewing recent experience through this lens demonstrates that the achievement of financial stability relies on more than traditional micro-prudential supervision of individual financial institutions. Clearly, policy needs to take into account the impact of such externalities in order to develop a framework supporting the stability of the financial system as a whole, rather than the individual institutions which constitute it. By the same token, the preceding analysis demonstrates that taking appropriate monetary policy decisions relies on an understanding of the behaviour of financial intermediaries and, in turn, on financial structure and innovation. From a policy perspective, the impact of monetary policy on the behaviour of the financial sector suggests that short-term interest rates are a potentially powerful tool to influence the evolution of systemic risk, and thus to support financial stability. However, as I discussed at the outset, monetary policy should not be overburdened with additional objectives. The primacy of the price stability objective must be retained. The well-known Tinbergen principle makes clear that a single instrument (short-term interest rates) is insufficient to achieve two goals simultaneously. 24 In such a context, additional policy instruments are required.

I am certain this Summit will explore these further and I wish the Summit success. Thank you. 1  Remarks by Ambassador Deng Xijun at the 3rd Jakarta Forum on ASEAN-China Relations in 2020: “Reinforcing Regional Economic Recovery amid COVID-19”, 2 November 2020. 2 Malaysia is number three after Singapore and Thailand. 2/2  BIS central bankers' speeches
It is determined by the structure of the economic process and the dynamics of expectations. There is, realistically speaking, no chance to deduce a general policy rule and to formally embody such a rule in the central bank mandate. Any decision to correct slowly and gradually or in a single bold effort any deviation from price stability, whatever its origin, can only be taken individually. Monetary history has successful examples to show for both patterns of reaction, but also unfortunate episodes in which central banks actually increased the variability of the price level and of output through activist manoeuvres. It would thus appear reasonable that an addendum, unspecified as to substance, should be made to the mandate of ensuring price stability. For example, to the effect that in fulfilling the mandate due attention should be paid to the development of economic activity. Art. 99 of the Swiss Federal Constitution obliges the SNB to conduct a monetary policy which serves the general interests of the country. Endeavours are under way to spell out this vague formulation in  BIS Review 35/2000  4  more detail in the forthcoming comprehensive revision of the National Bank Law. When revising our monetary policy concept, we took a step in this direction by quantifying the stability target (CPI inflation below 2%) and undertaking to adhere to the target in the medium term. Transparency A further aim was to continue to improve transparency. It is a fact that the call for more transparency has sounded far and wide.

On the other hand, equity prices can go up as a result of real changes, eg due to achieved or expected productivity improvements. Such supply-side driven equity price increases signal a higher productivity potential and would - if anything - be a reason for an expansive but certainly not a restrictive monetary policy correction. This example illustrates the central banks’ scepticism against the suggested changes. From the Swiss vantage point, there is well-founded additional scepticism. Our stock market is dominated by companies whose activities are concentrated abroad and thus have little direct connection with our economy. It is possible that new insights will lead to different conclusions. For the time being, however, it seems advisable to stay with the generally accepted “consensus view”, but to do that job as well as possible. Conclusion I am about to come to the end of my reflections, fully aware that my journey through a changing world is far from complete. I did not mention payment transactions, for example, even though this is an area undergoing various changes with potentially far-reaching consequences. In reflecting on change, however, we must not forget that the basic mandate of central banks remains unchanged: to secure stable monetary conditions for the economies they serve - both today and in the future. Literature: King, Mervin, Challenges for Monetary Policy: New and Old, Paper prepared for the Symposium sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 27 August 1999. (King 1999).