samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
The Fund is invested broadly, with shares in 8000 companies world-wide and bonds from 2000 different issuers. The decision to increase the equity share in June 2007 took place just before the financial crisis started. Over the next two years, thanks to rebalancing and high oil prices, the Fund invested USD 150 billion in the world’s equity markets. The Fund now owns around 1 per cent of the world’s listed stocks. In Europe, the ownership stake in the average listed company is close to 2 per cent. The Fund is overexposed in Europe, with more than half the fund invested here. The heavy weight for Europe was inherited from the management of foreign exchange reserves. Going forward, a neutral weighting across regions may be warranted. There are good reasons for Norway to invest more heavily in countries far from us. Since 1998 the return on the Fund has been a little disappointing. The fiscal rule is based on an annual real return of 4 per cent after costs. The realised return has only been 3 per cent. It is important to note that the period includes two large stock market crashes. The US stock market has gained zero over this period. As I noted earlier, the Fund is invested mainly in line with market capitalisation – so called passive management. As a manager, we still have a mandate for active management to a certain degree. Our target is to generate an excess return of 0.25 per cent.

The requirement is intended to ensure that banks build up an extra capital buffer when systemic risk increases. Loan-to-value ceilings on mortgage loans may also be imposed. On this point, the Spanish model of statistical provisions, introduced by Banco de España as early as 2000, has proved valuable. At the end of 2007, Spanish banks held as much as 1.3 per cent of total assets in these provisions, nearly a fourth of total regulatory capital. Third, the authorities must acquire tools that enable banks to be wound up in an orderly manner. In this context, it is important that the structure of banking groups is transparent. Banks must also draw up plans for their own liquidation in the event of difficulties. Owners and creditors – not taxpayers – must bear the losses. The interest rate on banks’ funding will then reflect the risk they take rather than an implicit government guarantee. This will in itself have a preventive effect. The Basel Committee has decided on important measures. If countries are able to enforce new rules faster than the minimum standard of 2018, this should be welcomed. Let me now turn to the mitigating policies; provisions to help societies through the crisis with as little human cost as possible. The crisis has been eased by active economic policy. Monetary policy has been expansionary.
Working through local community groups to engage borrowers, or identifying with religious tenets to overcome weak willpower to repay, are some experiential learning that creates favorable conditions that can expand access to credit and encourage high repayment rates. These “small nudges”, a notion popularized by behavioral scientist David Halpern, allow us to revisualise how operating models and technology can be adapted more effectively and efficiently to deliver sustainable microfinance solutions. Malaysia’s microfinance journey has also reflected a wider focus on developing the broad range of financial services that are needed by the unfortunate to manage and improve their financial circumstances. Credit is important, but not all important. Savings, insurance, business training and financial education are other key components of our program approach which work together to amplify the economic and social impact of microfinance. The largest microfinance institutions in Malaysia are also among the largest mobilisers of micro savings. As a case in point, our National Savings Bank ranks among the top three financial institutions in the country with the largest number of micro-loan and savings accounts. Overall, 92% of the population have a deposit account, compared to 42% who have a loan account. We are also currently working to expand the offering and take-up of micro insurance solutions under a multi-pronged strategy that combines tailored products offered by insurance companies and development financial institutions, and a universal product option available through low-cost mobile and other channels.

The deposit base of MFIs in a number of stressed countries strengthened further in January. The annual growth rate of loans (adjusted for loan sales and securitisation) to non-financial corporations stood at –1.5% in January, after –1.3% in December 2012. The annual growth in MFI loans to households moderated slightly to 0.5%, from 0.7% in December. To a large extent, subdued loan dynamics reflect the current stage of the business cycle, heightened credit risk and the ongoing adjustment of financial and non-financial sector balance sheets. At the same time, available information on the access to financing of non-financial corporates indicates tight credit conditions for small and medium-sized enterprises. In order to ensure adequate transmission of monetary policy to the financing conditions in euro area countries, it is essential to continue reducing fragmentation of euro area credit markets and strengthening the resilience of banks where needed. Decisive steps for establishing an integrated financial framework will help to accomplish this objective. The future Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) is one of the main building blocks, together with a Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM). Both are crucial elements for moving towards reintegrating the banking system. To sum up, the economic analysis indicates that price developments should remain in line with price stability over the medium term. A cross-check with the signals from the monetary analysis confirms this picture.
I believe this new law will rapidly improve the soundness of Turkey’s banking system, which is crucial for the conduct of monetary policy. Just as the monetary authorities cannot achieve medium-term price stability without appropriate fiscal policies, they cannot pursue a price stability target without a sound banking system. BIS Review 109/1999  2  The banking law approved by parliament was a big step forward, but further action is also needed. One important additional issue is to restructure the state banks and reduce their role in the banking system. These banks not only operate in a competitive banking market, but also undertake operations on behalf of the government, such as providing preferential loans to the agricultural sector and to small and medium-sized businesses. Since it is intended to eliminate preferential credits in the medium-term, these banks can be commercialized by privatizing them. Another reform that the Turkish government has recently undertaken is social security reform. Let me give you a brief summary of Turkey’s social security system, which has caused major budgetary problems in recent years. The Turkish social security system includes three pension institutions. The first and largest, the SSE, is for corporate employees, the second is for civil servants, and the third is for the self-employed. All three operate on a “pay-as-you-go” basis, which means that pensions are paid out of the current contributions of the working population and not of the past contributions of the retirees.

The last but by no means the least point I would like to make is that we now have an occasion for showing, once more, the ability of the Turkish economy to overcome adversity by meeting the challenge to our resilience following a major earthquake. During the last two years, we have survived the South Asian, Russian and Latin American crises, and also an economic slowdown in the EU region that is an extremely vital trading, financial and economic partner for Turkey. We also had the uncertainties preceding the early election held in April 1999, which tested the resistance of the Turkish economy. I truly believe that we have already passed these exams, and also that we have gained enormous experience. I have always said that we are extremely good in bad times, although we don’t like them. This time the situation and prospects are different, and we will show the abilities of the Turkish economy in good times as well as bad. If the program we have begun implementing is successful, that success will affect at least the next 50 years of Turkey’s economic and social life. I believe these messages are clear and will be well understood by our international partners. BIS Review 109/1999  4
To harness the potential fully, genuine endeavours to develop and innovate Islamic financial instruments and activities that are able to fulfil the changing requirements of the economy and the emerging needs of the contemporary global marketplace need to be continuously pursued. Conferences such as this can contribute invaluable ideas to foster new initiatives towards the development of the Islamic financial system. With the acceleration of its global integration, it will provide the synergies and opportunities for the Islamic financial industry to evolve into an important component of the international financial system that can contribute to enhance prospects for balanced global growth and an enhanced shared prosperity. On that note, I wish you a successful Conference. Thank you. BIS Review 43/2003  3

The ECB’s active participation in the ongoing process aimed at strengthening the international financial architecture is to be seen against this background. The Eurosystem supports such a process for two reasons: first, since the achievement of its primary objective of safeguarding price stability in the euro area would be facilitated by a sounder and more resilient international financial system; and, second, because the Eurosystem is expected to contribute to the smooth conduct of policies relating to the stability of the financial system. BIS Review 72/2000  4  Putting one’s own house in order must be at the basis of the stability of the “global village”. In this context, I should like, if you would allow me, to draw attention to the fact that the introduction of the euro also contributes to international financial and economic stability in a more subtle way. The process towards EMU is not only concerned with irrevocably merging 11 national currencies. It also means building up a sound institutional framework based on monetary stability and fiscal sustainability. The EMU process provides evidence of how effective properly organised policy and institutional cooperation can be in fostering economic stability in each individual country. In addition, EMU shows that regional policy cooperation may go well beyond trade matters. One should not be surprised by the number of countries that regard EMU as a relevant example of regional cooperation. In Europe, EMU represents a powerful magnet for many central and eastern European countries.
“Liquidity Regulation.” November 20, 2014, speech at the Clearing House 2014 Annual Conference, New York. Tucker, Paul, (2016). “The Political Economy of Central Bank Balance Sheet Management.” May 5, 2016, prepared for a workshop jointly sponsored by Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York. 23  See Tucker (2016) for a consideration of these issues. BIS central bankers’ speeches  7  8  BIS central bankers’ speeches  BIS central bankers’ speeches  9  10  BIS central bankers’ speeches  BIS central bankers’ speeches  11

MAS and key industry associations such as ACI Singapore, the Institute of Banking and Finance (IBF), Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS), are committed to equip our financial workforce with the necessary skills and knowledge through seminars and other training programmes. MAS will also continue to collaborate with financial institutions, the tripartite partners, and institutes of higher learning to build a strong local pipeline of specialised talent, particularly in areas such as information technology, computing, data analytics. 25 If we can do well in these two key areas, it will position our FX market and participants to capture growth opportunities and serve the needs of the Asian markets. Conclusion 26 Promoting and embedding the Code within the global FX market and in Singapore, is a journey that we have committed to. We hope that you can support these efforts, from your firms and in your individual capacity as market participants. 27 We have also co-created our medium term business strategies with market participants like yourselves, and we are committed to making them work, and bringing more innovation into the market place. 28 With this, I hope that you will have a productive and rewarding conference ahead. 5/5  BIS central bankers' speeches
First, the Chinese transition to a more balanced growth path appears to be underway – with stronger consumption and less emphasis on investment. And the Chinese authorities have a range of tools available to support their economy during this transition. Second, despite the intense strain placed on many emerging market economies by the substantial deterioration in recent years in their terms of trade, this stress does not yet appear to have led to the type of financial system breakage that might lead to widespread contagion and large capital flow reversals. In fact, in recent weeks, emerging market equity markets have recovered substantial ground and many countries’ currencies have stabilized. It is also important that the forward momentum in the jobs market persists. The August and September employment reports raised some concerns that the U.S. labor market might be faltering. Those concerns should be at least partially put to rest given the strength of the October employment report, recognizing that the employment news can be volatile on a month-to-month basis. Most noteworthy to me are the strong payroll employment gains in October and the solid 0.3 percent rise in aggregate hours worked. Over the past three months, payroll gains have averaged 187,000 per month, not much below the average payroll growth of 213,000 per month during the first half of 2015. We are now much closer to our goal of maximum sustainable employment than at the start of the year.

On the other hand, the realization of such projects enables strengthening of the cooperation between the central banks of the region and the central banks of the EU, which is inevitable in the process of integrating the entire region in the EU. Let me finally thank the ECB and the EU for enabling the NBRM to participate in this project. I wish success for all the institutions involved in the project in anticipation of even greater cooperation and I thank our hosts for organizing this event. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1
But perhaps a better way to think of it is to recognise that, thanks to this ability to make credible commitments, Blue essentially gets to choose future as well as current policy. This is a pretty valuable addition to the set of monetary tools when the current interest rate can’t be cut (and if the economy responds sensitively to forward rates). Without it, as you can see, the simulated performance of the economy deteriorates significantly as the neutral real interest rate gets closer to the lower bound (i.e. as the red line approaches the origin). Unable to do much about them, the fully discretionary policymaker will spend quite a bit of time in these low-inflation, low-output traps. But because he effectively controls future as well as current policy, and can credibly “promise to be irresponsible” (i.e. to keep rates low even in the event of positive inflationary shocks in the future), the blue policymaker manages to avoid the worst effects of the lower bound for interest rates. Forward guidance in practice What about the real world? Is it blue or red? In practice, looking at what central banks have actually said about future policy, the boundary between the two is less clear in practice than in the theory. Even a fully discretionary policymaker – one who can’t credibly commit to future policy decisions – may react slightly  differently to incoming data around the lower bound.

In this environment, simple rules of thumb like Chart 1 are less reliable – you can see clearly how the correlation between the two lines declined after the crisis – and it might therefore be an advantage for the central bank to communicate more about how policy is being set. This “Delphic” guidance can come in various forms. Regular forecasts are part of it. You can speak directly about the changing environment and the implications for the reaction function, perhaps with the aid of particular simulations (I gave a talk in 2013 arguing that, when productivity growth is less predictable, the monetary authority will want to put less weight on output and more on the domestic labour market[3]). Monetary authorities have often made more specific remarks about the near-term path of interest rates, depending on how things turn out (“if the economy develops in line with our forecast then policy might be expected to do such-and-such” is a typical example). A handful of central banks publish forecasts of the policy rate, alongside those for GDP and inflation. Their joint behaviour can help people understand how these things interact. It’s worth noting up front that not all forms of “Delphic” guidance have to involve direct communication about the future path of interest rates. And, whatever its precise form, the important point about this sort of guidance is that it’s always conditional. These are – and should always be seen as – “if….then” statements.
A further amplifying factor is that trading books are marked-to-market and any gains or losses taken through to the profit and loss account. So holding a large trading book is a very good strategy when underlying asset prices in the economy are rising rapidly. This was precisely the set of the circumstances facing banks in the run-up to crisis, with asset prices driven higher by a search for yield among investors. In effect, this rising tide of asset price  4  10  The term “Tier 1 capital” refers to the component of banks’ regulatory capital comprising common equity and capital instruments close to common equity (“hybrid Tier 1 capital”), as defined by rules set out by regulators. For a discussion of the composition of UK banks’ regulatory capital see Bank of England (2009a). BIS Review 95/2010  rises was booked as marked-to-market profits by banks holding assets in their trading book. Everyone, it appeared, was a winner. But because these gains were driven by a mis-pricing of risk in the economy at large, trading book profits were in fact largely illusory. Once asset prices went into reverse during 2008 as risk was re-priced, trading book losses quickly materialised. Write-downs on structured products totalled $ billion among the major global banks in 2008 alone. (c)  Writing deep out-of-the-money options  A third strategy, which boosted returns by silently assuming risk, arises from offering tail risk insurance.

Our tools are more powerful used in combination, and, when their use is explicitly tied to the outcomes we seek to achieve. As a result, the sum is more powerful than the component parts. Risk management is particularly important Risk management is particularly important at the zero bound. At the zero lower bound, once you are caught in deflation, it is very hard to get out. Thus, policymakers need to put considerable weight on this risk and conduct monetary policy with sufficient aggressiveness to ensure that they avoid such an outcome. It is also true that we have less experience with the monetary policy tools used at the zero bound. As a result, there is greater uncertainty around the efficacy and costs of these tools. This pushes in the opposite direction of being more cautious. This means that risk management is essential – what are the costs of being wrong in either direction? Sometimes a cautious, incremental approach may not always be the right strategy. Limits to monetary policy At the zero bound, monetary policy encounters additional constraints. These fall into three broad buckets. First, there are costs associated with non-conventional tools. This means they cannot simply be used without limit, though the appropriate limit will vary based on the outlook and balance of risks. The most obvious example of this is our large-scale asset purchase program.
To provide ease of reconciliation, banks will facilitate payment references to be keyed in by the sender for IBG payments by April 2014 to enable reconciliation of payments by the beneficiary. In addition, banks have also committed to increase the daily limit for IBG and Instant Bank Fund Transfer (IBFT) transactions to RM10,000 with the necessary security and safety features. In addition, ongoing initiatives to build awareness, educate and instill confidence in electronic payments are also carried out nationwide through a series of roadshows and media appearances. Timely for businesses to migrate to electronic payments Our country is at a turning point in the migration to electronic payments. Under the 2014 budget, RM1.8 billion has been allocated for the implementation of the second phase HighSpeed Broadband (HSBB) project. This initiative will provide additional internet coverage which will benefit 2.8 million households nationwide. With this initiative, the household broadband penetration rate is expected to increase to its optimum level6. In addition, Bank Negara Malaysia has also called on the banks to widen the access points for the public to conduct electronic payments, including via the ATM network. While Malaysia’s population stands at 29.7 million, there are 41 million ATM cards which have a debit application that can be used to make purchases at merchant outlets.

Muhammad bin Ibrahim: Migration to electronic payments Keynote address by Mr Muhammad bin Ibrahim, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the Payment System Forum 2013 “Migration to electronic payments”, Kuala Lumpur, 9 December 2013. *  *  *  It is my pleasure to welcome all of you to the Payment System Forum 2013 organized by Bank Negara Malaysia in collaboration with the Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) and the Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM). Overview of the payment system forum The objectives of the Payment System Forum are: •  Firstly, to build greater awareness amongst the business community on the wide range of electronic payment solutions available in the market; and  •  Secondly, to showcase experiences by businesses who have successfully migrated to, and are reaping the benefits of, electronic payments. Besides featuring presentations by banks and payment system professionals, and the sharing of experiences by businesses, I am pleased to announce that the Payment System Forum has also brought together 27 exhibitors. The exhibitors comprise representatives of banks, payment service providers and government agencies who will showcase their electronic payment solutions. Members of the business community are encouraged to visit the exhibition booths located outside of this Auditorium and sign-up to the latest offers. Enhancing Malaysia’s payment system infrastructure An efficient, reliable and secure payment system is critical to the stability of a country’s financial system, besides contributing to a country’s economic growth and competitive position.