samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
As you know, a number of policy initiatives have been launched at the global level since the summer, for instance by Financial Stability Forum 5 or by the Porto informal ECOFIN 6 and it is still difficult to anticipate precisely the legal aspects which will be examined more particularly by the various international and European fora and bodies involved in this discussion. However, these initiatives provide an indication of possible legal considerations which might emerge, in particular in the European context. Legal certainty should go hand in hand with transparency. The focus on the transparency of complex financial instruments, of institutions and vehicles and on the appropriate disclosure of information on securitised debt and other structured financial products indicates that there is a need for regulatory and supervisory authorities to have a closer look on the legal frameworks applicable to securitisation transactions and market standards and how special purpose vehicles are currently regulated and supervised in the various EU Member States and at also at the international level. The report of the European Financial Markets Lawyers Group (EFMLG) of May 2007 on legal obstacles to cross-border securitisations in the EU 7 contains recommendations for further convergence of securitisation laws in the EU and invites the Commission to consider the adoption of a EU directive on specific legal aspects of securitisations which would enable Member States to adopt a certain number of principles common to all jurisdictions to ensure a high level of transparency, efficiency and legal certainty with regard to securitisation transactions.

In fact, the spill-over effects transmitted from one region of the world to another via interest rates, exchange rates and equity prices, for instance, can be mitigated through closer regional integration. By reducing the relative degree of economic and financial openness of the regions concerned, such integration can be an effective instrument to shield them from external shocks, thereby obviating the need for trade or capital restrictions. The European experience shows that regional integration can be beneficial in this respect. The euro area weathered well the economic slowdown and financial market uncertainties arising from the series of balance of payments crises seen between 1997 and 1999. Likewise, provided that the current economic slowdown in the United States does not develop into a hard landing, the euro area is expected to record in 2001 above-potential growth for the second year in a row. To be sure, sheltering domestic economies from external shocks was not the primary consideration of European integration when it was initiated almost 50 years ago. Nor were the creation of the euro and the setting-up of the European Central Bank (ECB) objectives at that time. These are, in fact, only the latest developments in a long process of regional integration that started and is continuing with a strong political commitment.
Spencer Dale: MPC in the dock Speech by Mr Spencer Dale, Executive Director, Monetary Policy, and Chief Economist of the Bank of England, at the National Asset-Liability Management Global Conference, London, 24 March 2011. *  *  *  I would like to thank Alina Barnett, Rohan Churm and Michael Hume for their considerable help in preparing this speech. The views expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of other members of the Monetary Policy Committee. The remit of the Monetary Policy Committee is clear: to hit the 2% inflation target. But inflation in February was 4.4% – well above the target. It has been above target for much of the past 5 years. And it is likely to remain so for the next year or so. At the same time, monetary policy remains at extraordinary loose levels. This month marks the second anniversary of Bank Rate being reduced to 0.5%; it’s lowest ever level. And the stock of asset purchases financed by central bank reserves – QE – remains at £ billion. There is an onus on the Committee to explain how its actions are consistent with its remit. There is a good case for the defence. But we need to continue to make it. It needs to be made if international investors, such as many of you here this morning, are going to continue to have the confidence to invest in the UK. More generally, it needs to be made to preserve the accountability and credibility of the Committee.

It has served the UK well for two decades, and has led the way in many areas of innovation. But similar drivers to those behind the PSF mean it too now needs a thoroughgoing refresh to meet the next wave of challenge. Consultation on our vision recently concluded; and, although we are still processing the results of that exercise, it is already clear 3  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/speeches/default.aspx  3  that our proposals to boost access, resilience, interoperability and user functionality have received strong support from old and new market participants alike. So it seems likely that, in the next few years, the UK will have a new payments infrastructure for retail and wholesale payments alike. To have got this far so fast is a real achievement. But in truth the real work for the PSF has only just begun. The challenge now is to translate the high level aspirations in this document into something much more concrete. That means delivering a retail payments design that is technically feasible, secure, and aligned with the Bank of England’s settlement models. It also means identifying who will build, and pay for, the new system: no small challenge at a time when the industry faces many competing demands on its resources. Though the Bank of England has not been a formal member of the PSF, we have been an active observer of proceedings throughout the past year. And we will remain closely involved with the next stage of the Forum’s work too.
Policymakers face a trade-off between placing losses on a narrow set of taxpayers today (bail-in) or spreading that risk across a wider set of tax-payers today and in the future (bail-out). If governments are risk-averse and wish to smooth the pain across taxpayers and across time, then bail-out may look attractive on the day. Financial history certainly suggests so. The history of big bank failure is a history of the state blinking before private creditors (Haldane (2011)). Recent crisis experience has written another chapter in this history. Next time may be different. For example, the public backlash against future bail-outs could reinforce government’s resolve to impose losses on creditors. And recent US legislation in principle locks the tax-payer cashbox and throws away the key. Looking forward, the issue is whether this ex-ante rule is ex-post credible. BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  As Chart 6 illustrates, implied levels of support for the US’s biggest banks are much higher than before the crisis. More telling still, the passage of Dodd-Frank appears to have had little impact on levels of implied state support. It is early days for this new resolution regime and credibility may take time to be earned. Nonetheless, at present the market believes the timeconsistency problem for big banks is as acute as ever. Even if it might appear the expedient option on the day of crisis, it is questionable whether bail-out is the optimal response over the medium-term.

(2008), “Optimal industrial structure in banking,” in Handbook of Financial Intermediation, Arnoud Boot and Anjan Thakor, eds. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 133–162. Miles D, Yang J and Marcheggiano, G (2012), “Optimal Bank Capital”, Economic Journal. Noss, J and Sowerbutts, R (2012), “The Implicit Subsidy of banks” Bank of England FS Papers Series, FS Paper No 15. Panizza, U and Arcand, J-L and Berkes, E (2012), “Too Much Finance?,” IMF Working Papers 12/161, International Monetary Fund. Philippon, T and Reshef, A, (2009), “Wages and Human Capital in the U.S. Financial Industry: 1909–2006,” NBER Working Papers 14644, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. Pulley, L. B. and Y. M. Braunstein (1992), “A composite cost function for multiproduct firms with an application to economies of scope in banking”, Review of Economics and Statistics, 74(2), 221–30. Reinhart, C and Rogoff, K, (2010), “Growth in a Time of Debt,” American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 573–78, May. Segoviano, M and Goodhart, C (2009), “Banking Stability Measures,” IMF Working Paper 09/04 (Washington: International Monetary Fund). Schanz, J, Aikman, D, Collazos, P, Farag, M, Gregory, D and Kapadia, S (2011), “The long-term economic impact of higher capital levels”, Bank of England, Mimeo Tarullo, D (2012), “Financial Stability Regulation”, Speech At the Distinguished Jurist Lecture, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wagner, W (2009), “In the Quest of Systemic Externalities: A Review of the Literature”, mimeo Wheelock, D.C., and Wilson P.W. (2012), “Do Large Banks have Lower Costs?
Truman’s criteria were also included in the basis for the Santiago Principles which, facilitated by the IMF, were introduced in 2008 and implemented by a number of sovereign wealth funds. To quote Truman: “Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), large pools of government-owned funds that are invested in whole or in part outside their home country, burst upon the policy consciousness only three years ago. Their explosive growth up until 2007 fanned widespread anxieties about shifts of global economic wealth and the roles of governments in managing that wealth. On the other hand, SWF investments helped some major Western financial institutions weather the recent financial crisis.” Chart: Truman’s ranking In Truman’s most recent study on the transparency of sovereign wealth funds, the Government Pension Fund Global was ranked in first place. The Fund has also improved its score since the 2009 survey. We note with satisfaction that such a young fund has come out ahead of established US and European funds 15 . 15  Edwin M. Truman (2010): “Sovereign Wealth Funds: Threat or Salvation?”, Peterson Institute of International Economics. 8  BIS Review 145/2010  As I mentioned by way of introduction, the economic literature points to two factors that can turn riches into rags. One is the risk of inducing interest groups and economic agents to engage in rent-seeking behaviour. It can safely be said that the framework for the Fund has fended off this risk. Chart: Relative wages in Norway The second is the risk of Dutch disease. Strictly speaking, the jury is still deliberating.

The standards are, without doubt, likely to make the greatest contribution to reducing vulnerabilities and strengthening the resilience of our financial system;  •  Second, the adoption of IFRS is expected to result in higher quality reporting of the health of the financial institutions in Zambia. By so doing, Zambia will benefit from quality international research on accounting and finance issues and also benefit from cross-border comparability of financial performance and condition amongst banks and non-bank financial institutions; and  •  Third, the use of IFRS is expected to play a critical role in the implementation of risk-based supervision of financial institutions in Zambia. Ladies and Gentlemen Allow me, at this juncture, to inform you that in the recent past, the Bank of Zambia has streamlined the supervision of banks and non-bank financial institutions to make it more focused on risks. This is aimed at encouraging banks and non-bank financial institutions to implement sound risk management practices that provide for: •  active oversight by management and the Board of Directors;  •  clearly defined policies, procedures, and delegation of authority;  •  comprehensive risk measurement and reporting systems; and  •  adequate institution of audits and other systems of internal controls. Further, the Bank of Zambia recognises that accounting, auditing, and disclosure play a crucial role in enhancing financial stability.
Their experience is relevant, nonetheless, for the Euro area Member States as well, as the common market and free movement of capital is a two-ways street. Financial and business cycles in euro-area and non-euro area are not perfectly aligned. Growth is now much stronger in Eastern Europe, and the output gap has turned positive earlier than in the euro-area. Inflation has also reemerged in non-euro area. Some of it is cyclical, as it comes from international commodity prices, other supply side factors, but also from a strong domestic demand. Yet, some of it is structural, as any catching-up process is inflationary in nature. Higher wage growth pressure is normal, up to a point, in view of large wage differentials, migration flows, and labor market tightening. Despite the wage growth, CEE countries are becoming increasingly competitive, as productivity also grows. This is why the current account position of non-euro member states is better now than before the crisis. The monetary policy normalization cycle runs also at a different pace. Even within CEE countries, while the monetary stance remains largely accommodative, the situation is quite heterogeneous regarding inflationary expectations, policy objectives, and policy tools used. As regards Romania, we started the tightening of monetary policy by hiking the rate twice this year, after further narrowing the corridor around the policy rate last year, but a gradual approach is warranted by the need to avoid sharp currency appreciation in the regional context. In our case, the policy normalization has been supported by two favorable developments in the banking sector.

According to European legislation, treasury functions, risk management and IT services are the most important areas of operational independence to be secured – and, therefore, they are at the heart of the home-host issue. This is particularly relevant for non-euro Members States from Central and Eastern Europe. We agree that, at least until the conditions for an MPE strategy are met, the parent banks should continue to provide support for their subsidiaries. But how to do this it is a more delicate issue. One way would be to transform subsidiaries into branches. Indeed, from an operational point of view the switch from subsidiaries to branches could bring some benefits. However, a higher burden will be placed on home countries’ authorities, as these will have to take into account and protect financial systems and economies in the host countries. The home Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS) will be subject to a very high pressure in case the group fails and it must pay for the guaranteed deposits. Although equal treatment and solidarity are desirable, the branches seem to escape the safetynet that has different patterns in each country. National legal frameworks for resolution and liquidation procedures would still be the main drivers in a failing situation, but these are limited. An alternative solution for securing a de facto group financial support for the subsidiaries by using market instruments would relate to MREL (minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities).
BIS Review 2/2002  Conclusion A crucial aspect of globalisation is unquestionably our increased interdependence. This has been largely beneficial in terms of increased prosperity, more widespread democracy and so on. But it has also had negative consequences, ranging from environmental destruction across national borders to higher interest rates and currency crises generated by circumstances in some distant region. The management of such problems calls for increased international cooperation. For Sweden today this amounts in practice to collaborating to a growing extent with our European colleagues and then acting with greater weight in the global arena. We can also learn more and more from the experiences of others, as was in fact the direct purpose of my stay in Peru. Whereas the number of people in absolute poverty (living on less than a dollar a day) rose up to the early 1980s, in the past two decades the number has decreased. Moreover, life expectancy in developing countries has lengthened from 40 years in 1950 to 65 years in 1995. Another example is literacy, which increased in this period from 40 to 70 per cent. However, the positive trend has not spread to all parts of the world. Poverty is still widespread in countries such as Peru. But this does not have all that much to do with globalisation as such. It is essentially bound up with internal conditions, for example various power relationships, corruption, a lack of education, harsh climatic conditions and other obstacles to development. So providing money is not enough.

In addition, there has been an important shift from the traditional high net worth clients investing in individual hedge funds to funds being invested in hedge funds via diversified pools and formal fund of funds structures. These pooled assets, coupled with liberalizing regulatory developments have opened up hedge funds to a more diverse universe of investors, including a wide range of institutional and retail investors. Currently, the total size of funds invested in hedge funds via pooled structures is estimated to be approximately USD 300 billion or nearly a third of the underlying hedge fund industry. Remarkably, annual growth rate estimates of the pooled funds suggest that their expansion has proceeded at a more rapid pace than the underlying hedge fund industry. This implies that a significant portion of new assets flowing into hedge funds does so via collective asset management pools. In a competitive environment, the Swiss financial sector has succeeded in leveraging its position as one of the world’s leading asset manager to secure an dominant position amongst collective asset management pool operators in the hedge fund industry. Though many of the early formal funds of funds were registered under Luxembourg, Cayman Island or Bermuda law, Swiss financial firms today manage a significant part of the world’s alternative asset management pools.
The theme of this conference “Leveraging Central Banks’ IT Investments for Strategic Advantage” is apt given the increasing reliance of central banks on information technology services to support their operations. Information Technology competes with other areas of the central bank’s activities for the allocation of scarce resources. It is only proper, therefore, that the investments made in the domain of information technology must be able to deliver a return that meets or exceeds that which would have been provided by the other alternative avenues to which those resources could have been applied. In the final analysis, the information technology function is required to contribute to the organisation achieving specific outcomes in pursuit of its mission in an ever-changing local, regional and international landscape by connecting personnel, business processes and data. I believe that these expectations are shared by all our central banks in the region. Putting together an information technology services organisation can be a considerable undertaking that requires the investment of significant levels of financial resources to procure the right people, processes and technology. For this reason, from a management perspective, it is imperative that the investment gives the organisation value through improved productivity and efficiency, enhanced customer experience, reduced costs, substantial risk mitigation, better compliance and business continuity. At the Bank of Guyana, we have made considerable investments in the area of information technology over the years and continue to do so.

Bandid Nijathaworn: Meeting security and risk challenges in the finance and infrastructure sectors Opening address by Dr Bandid Nijathaworn, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Thailand, at the seminar on “Meeting Security and Risk Challenges in the Finance and Infrastructure Sectors”, Bangkok, 11 February 2008. *  *  *  Distinguished guests Ladies and gentlemen, It is a great pleasure to be here this morning, to give this opening remark for the seminar on “Meeting Security and Risk Challenges in the Finance and Infrastructure Sectors”. And those of you who come from abroad to join the seminar, let me also welcome you to Bangkok. Today, risk management and security concern are important management issues for all businesses, as companies increasingly operate in an evolving global environment of rapid technological change and innovation. Great advance in information technology has brought about radical changes in the way modern businesses are conducted and managed, and in the way new products and delivery channels are created. Yet while these changes have imparted important benefits to businesses in terms of profitability and efficiency, they also pose greater challenge in terms of the risk exposure and the management of risks. In this regard, I think financial services and banking is of no exception. It is one industry that continues to face this important challenge. Banking business, basically, is about risk-taking, managing risk and profiting from risk.
William C Dudley: Road to recovery – Hudson Valley Remarks by Mr William C Dudley, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz, New York, 19 May 2011. *  *  *  Good morning. I am pleased to be in New Paltz to speak to you and meet with the business, community and academic leaders of the Hudson Valley. I particularly want to thank the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce and Community Capital Resources of the Hudson Valley, the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Dutchess County Economic Development Corporation and the Orange County Chamber of Commerce who assisted us with our recent survey of small business finances. More than 100 businesses responded from the mid-Hudson region. The survey results will be published early this summer and, of course, we will share the results with you and post them on our website. Each visit to this area gives me a chance to deepen the Bank’s relationship with the people whom I represent as head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Last summer I travelled through central and western New York and met with community leaders, business people, academics, bankers and government officials.

I am referring to Dutchess and Orange counties, which comprise the Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown metropolitan area, and Ulster County – which is also the Kingston metropolitan area. First, what does the mid-Hudson Valley region look like from an economic standpoint? There is a lot of economic activity here. All told, about 850,000 people live here and 420,000 jobs are located here. And, over the past decade, all three counties added people more rapidly than the state. People here are, on average, more highly educated than in the nation as a whole, as measured by the over 30 percent of residents who have college degrees. So, it is not surprising that median household income in all three counties is above the national median. The industrial composition varies by county.   Ulster County employs a relatively large share of people in its hotels and resorts, reflecting the importance of tourism. And, SUNY New Paltz is a major employer in the county.   Dutchess County’s jobs are heavily weighted toward high-tech manufacturing, with growing diversification.   In Orange County, transportation accounts for a relatively large share of employment, partly due to Stewart Airport. West Point Military Academy is a major employer, and many Orange County residents commute to New York City, Westchester or Rockland for work. Now, how has the area fared during the recent recession and recovery? I will address this from three perspectives: housing, credit conditions and jobs. Unlike central and western New York, this region experienced a modest boom and bust housing cycle.