samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
We invite the banking industry and other actors in the financial system to contribute to this initiative, with concrete vision and products, taking into account that you can play a special role in effectively mobilising remittances. Reasserting our institutional support and commitment for this initiative, I am confident that this will be an on-going dialogue to facilitate every undertaking in the aspect of remittances. Thank you for your attention! 2/2  BIS central bankers' speeches

We were concerned that the low mortgage rates banks charge might not be adequate to cover the potential credit loss if property prices were to correct sharply in the future. The HKMA has therefore spent quite some time in ensuring that the mortgage pricing of banks is sustainable in the medium to long term. 8. Cultural issues: The paper points out that the introduction of the 70% LTV guideline in 1991 was a joint-initiative by the public and private sectors where both saw the need for a more prudent LTV standard to ensure the sustainability of banks’ mortgage business. The market has moved on since then. With banks increasingly focus on short-term profit maximization, we have seen many instances where banks attempted to circumvent our macroprudential policies. 9. Some banks used their group entities outside Hong Kong to extend mortgage facilities exceeding the HKMA’s limits to buyers of Hong Kong properties. The banks thought that they could bypass the HKMA’s macroprudential measures through these “creative” cross-border arrangements. They were wrong. In all these cases, we made it clear to the banks that their activities are tantamount to regulatory arbitrage, which is unacceptable and which reveals a more fundamental problem about their corporate culture. If the senior management themselves do not comply with the regulatory requirements applicable to their institution, how can they expect their staff to observe the requirements of the bank? The HKMA shared our concerns with the relevant home supervisors and obtained their assistance to follow up the issue at the group level.
William J McDonough: Update on the major initiative to revise the 1988 Capital Accord  Speech by Mr William J McDonough, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, before the 4th Annual Supervision Conference of the British Bankers Association, held in London, on 19 June 2000. *  *  *  I am pleased to be with you to provide an update on the major initiative to revise the 1988 Capital Accord. Last June the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which I have the privilege of chairing, released a Consultative Paper proposing a new capital adequacy framework. My comments today will focus on the industry’s response to the proposal and the areas that will require the Committee’s attention going forward. Given the progress already achieved, it is my belief that the Committee will be prepared to release a second Consultative Paper early next year. I will also briefly discuss three essential aspects of the safe and sound operation of any banking organization - good corporate governance, rigorous internal controls and effective risk management. I will conclude with some thoughts on the critical role of banks’ board of directors and senior management. Current Accord The primary tool of capital regulation currently is the set of minimum ratios that were devised in 1988 by the Basel Committee. The 1988 Capital Accord has truly become a global standard for banks worldwide.

The Committee currently is in the final stages of preparing a paper on how the supervisory review of capital can be implemented effectively. The third pillar of the new capital adequacy framework, market discipline, will serve to reinforce capital regulation and other supervisory efforts to promote safety and soundness in banks and financial systems. The Committee, in January of this year, issued a paper on bank disclosures, covering banks’ capital structures, risk exposures and capital adequacy. Currently, our Transparency Group is considering whether it is possible to establish a set of core disclosures that would bolster market discipline. This will involve drawing upon our existing disclosure recommendations, and reviewing the extent to which disclosure in new areas - the internal ratings-based method, external ratings or internal assessment of other risks - might be appropriate. I hope that this overview has given you a sense of the key points the Committee has learned from the consultative process, and where we are headed. In the near-term, we are completing our work and expect over the next few months to make progress in a number of areas, including greater risk differentiation in the standardized approach and the development of supervisory standards for internal ratings. As we continue to fine-tune the new capital adequacy framework, we also are striving to avoid getting bogged down in secondary issues that could slow down the overall process. As I have often remarked, the perfect cannot be the enemy of the good.
François Villeroy de Galhau: Green Finance – a new frontier for the 21st century Opening keynote by Mr François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, at the International climate risk conference for supervisors, Amsterdam, 6 April 2018. * * * Accompanying slides of this speech. Ladies and Gentlemen, What location could be more appropriate for a conference on climate change than Amsterdam? Two thirds of Dutch territory is at risk of flooding as sea levels rise. 1 It is no coincidence that this country’s mathematicians, including Prof. Laurens de Haan, have made decisive contributions in determining a safe height for sea dikes based on extreme value theory. 2 Yet the interest of central bankers and supervisors in climate change may seem more surprising. Though unexpected, it is not fashion, it is conviction: climate stability is, in the long run, one of the determinants of financial stability. This is even more important to us in Europe because the Treaties entrust the Eurosystem with the task of “supporting the general economic policies in the Union”;3 this includes “the sustainable development of Europe based on […] a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment”4 (Art. 3). And one thing is certain: time is running out. At the One Planet Summit in Paris last December, President Macron issued a stark warning that “we are losing the battle” on climate change. Mark Carney will tell us later on whether we have escaped the “tragedy of the horizon”5 he famously described.

In this regard, I welcome the European Commission Action Plan which provides one of the most ambitious policy blueprints ever published on sustainable finance. But we should go further, at least at the European level, including with the United Kingdom: we should work towards common standards for the green bonds market. At present, two are widespread: the Green Bond Principles (GBP) and the Climate Bond Initiative (CBI). It would certainly make sense to promote a convergence towards a harmonised European standard, leveraging the GBP approach in terms of processes and transparency, and building on the CBI approach with regard to taxonomy. There should also systematically be an independent measurement of the impacts. Last but not least, we need to infuse sustainability into our own activities, because our credibility also depends on our exemplarity. At the Banque de France, we took a pioneering step last month with the adoption of a Responsible Investment Charter. We are among the first central banks to commit ourselves to improving the contribution of our own funds and pensions portfolios to the environmental transition, and we intend to report annually on our progress. 3/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  ** Let me conclude by quoting one of the greatest European writers of the 19th century, Victor Hugo, who once wrote: “How sad to think that nature speaks and mankind doesn’t listen.” We now have sufficient evidence that climate change speaks for itself. It is high time that we listened and acted in consequence.
In addition, solutions need to be developed to enable users to integrate easily with the payment offerings. Secondly, the product range, the range of services would need to be expanded to cater for the different payment needs of consumers and business sectors. Thirdly, the pricing framework, the formulation of a transparent and cost-effective pricing framework is important to provide the incentive structure that would spur the adoption of electronic means of payments. Fourth, is the consumer awareness. Programmes need to be implemented to inculcate the behavioral change among consumers. There needs to be trust and confidence in the electronic payment systems. The fifth area relates to the standards, the setting of common standards to address the interoperability of systems including standardising the payment messaging format is vital to the wider acceptance of electronic payment. Finally, is the need to ensure the security and integrity of the payment system which thus requires the supporting regulatory and legal framework to be in place. Among the series of initiatives that have been implemented to promote the greater use of electronic payment relates to the leadership role of the Government in the migration to electronic means of payment. As most individuals and businesses have payment transactions with the Government, the role of the Government in accepting electronic payments has provided an important catalyst for the adoption of electronic payment on a national scale. In this regard, Bank Negara Malaysia has been in active partnership with the Government to drive the electronic payment agenda.

This would not only promote the opening of banking accounts amongst this target group but would also enable them to enjoy lower cost of financial services and better means of savings, thus benefiting the economy as a whole. As the electronic payment channels become more easily accessible, user-friendly and offered at a low cost, it would thus provide the opportunity to shift the remittance flows from the informal to formal channels. Indeed, electronic payments can be one of the strategic tools to meet these objectives and achieve higher economic growth. Electronic payment increases operational efficiency and improves productivity levels through expedient payments and receipts of funds. Electronic payments would also provide the speed and convenience of making payments from any place or time. It also reduces costs through the reduction of redeployment of resources used for handling cash and cheques. Accelerating the country's migration to electronic payments has therefore become a part of Malaysia's larger national agenda to increase the efficiency of  BIS Review 69/2008  1  the nation's payment systems which would ultimately improve the competitiveness of our economy. Cash payments in Malaysia still account for a large portion of the number of transactions in the economy. Going forward it is expected that its use will level off and stabilise with the increased use of electronic means of payments. Credit cards, ATM cards, debit cards including the e-purse application embedded in the MyKad are among the card payments possibilities in Malaysia.
Malaysia has a high mobile phone penetration of 144 per 100 inhabitants as at end-2013. In addition, the country’s broadband penetration at 67 per 100 households as at end-2013, is projected to increase with the implementation of the second phase High-Speed Broadband (HSBB) project. Malaysia also has a wide network of about 9,000 access points to banking services comprising bank branches and agent banking network accounting for approximately 4 access points per 10,000 adults.1 Under the agent banking network, basic banking services are provided to customers through third party agents such as post offices, petrol stations, retail outlets and telecommunication agents. The access points are also complemented by  1  2  As at end-May 2014, there are 2,953 bank branches and 5,802 agents under the agent banking network nationwide. BIS central bankers’ speeches  12,430 ATMs nationwide which represents about 6 ATMs per 10,000 adults. All districts and Parliamentary constituencies now have access to basic banking services.2 We believe that the payment instrument that has the highest potential to drive financial inclusion in Malaysia is the debit card. Malaysia has a high debit card penetration of 19.2 million “active”3 cards-in-circulation which is almost equal to the bankable population of approximately 20.4 million adults. The unbanked on the other hand can leverage on prepaid cards which function just like debit cards.

Malaysia is the first country in the Asia Pacific region to migrate from magnetic strip cards to chip-based payment cards. This transition, which was completed in 2005 despite the initial resistance by the industry, had successfully eradicated cases of fraudulent skimming or counterfeiting of payment cards. The investment cost of RM200 million was recovered within two and a half years from fraud avoidance. I think it is important for the banking industry to take note of this fact. The various regulatory measures introduced by Bank Negara Malaysia and the continuous investment made by the industry have caused the cases of fraud incidents in e-payments to remain at a very low level over the last decade. In 2013, fraud incidents only accounted for 0.0054% of total transaction volume and 0.0011% of the transaction value of e-payment transactions. While we should be satisfied with such encouraging outcomes, there is no room for complacency as fraudsters are always on the look-out for possible weaknesses to exploit. Therefore, continuous efforts need to be taken both at the policy-making and at the industry level to continuously identify, remedy and tackle emerging security risks. 4. Consumer protection and education  The unbanked and the underbanked might find e-payments to be too sophisticated and lack the personal touch. In this respect, policymakers and market players have an important role to play in educating and creating awareness among consumers on the benefits of e-payments and the security steps that they can take to minimise fraud incidents.
2.0  Recent economic developments  2.1  Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP)  During the period 2001-2007, growth in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) averaged about 5.1% per annum, largely due to investment in the mining, tourism, construction and transport  BIS Review 76/2008  1  and agriculture sectors. This has set a strong basis for further favourable economic growth in the medium to long-term. Thus GDP growth is projected to rise by no less than 7.0% in 2008 and beyond. Consistent with the developments in the economy, GDP per capita rose to US $ in 2007 from US $ in 2001. 2.2  Interest rates  Commercial banks’ lending rates have also been declining, though not as fast as the reduction in inflation and Treasury bills rates. For instance, the commercial banks average lending rate fell from 54.6% in December 2001 to 24.4% in December 2007. Lower lending rates are expected in the current environment of low inflation and will contribute to reducing the cost of doing business in Zambia. 2.3  Inflation  Inflation has declined from 18.7% recorded in 2001 to single digit level of 8.2% in 2006 and 8.9% in 2007. It is projected to slow down further to 7.0% by December 2008. This inflation outturn was largely credited to the conduct of appropriate monetary policy coupled with prudent fiscal policy and relative stability of the Kwacha, assisted by lower food prices following the favourable 2005/06 and 2006/07 farming seasons.

2.4  External sector  Zambia’s external position continues to show remarkable improvements as reflected in the build up of gross international reserves to 3.6 months of import cover in 2007 from 0.9 months of import cover in 2001. Preliminary assessment is that Zambia’s surplus trade balance rose to US $ million compared to the deficit of US $ million in 2001. Similarly, the current account deficit as a percentage of GDP reduced to 4.4% in 2007 from 19.1% in 2001. This outturn was mainly attributed to high receipts from increased copper exports following increased production and record high prices on the international market due to strong demand mainly from China. Coupled with this, between 2000 and 2007, nontraditional export earnings rose by 260% from $ 255.7 million in 2000 to $ 920.7 million in 2007 with commodities such as sugar, copper wire and tobacco, coupled with receipts from tourism making notable contributions. In addition, the attainment of the enhanced HIPC completion point in April 2005 and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) in 2006 provided for cancellation of (IMF, IDA and ADB) debt resulting in a reduction in debt stock to about US $ billion in 2007 from the end-2001 debt stock of US $ billion. The debt relief and increased budget support from cooperating partners also helped strengthen the external position. The foreign exchange market is liberalised, therefore the Kwacha is determined by demand and supply conditions in the market.
Why not have all EU countries commit themselves to establishing independent bodies with the responsibility of enhancing transparency by conducting independent forecasts of the countries’ deficits and providing recommendations on a regular basis? They would have only an advisory role and their authority would stem from impartiality and expertise. The subject of their recommendations would be the overall fiscal stance - neither the specifics nor indeed the political orientation of fiscal policy. The Excessive Deficit Protocol (EDP) states that member states shall ensure that national procedures in the budgetary area enable them to meet their obligations. It would therefore be in the spirit of the EDP to have EU countries commit themselves to establishing these kinds of bodies. At the very least, these independent bodies would be able to make more reliable and unbiased forecasts as a basis for EU recommendations. Such an arrangement would avoid having unreliable deficit figures before elections, only to “discover” the real state of accounts after the vote - such as has been the case in Portugal, France, Germany, and most spectacularly in Greece recently. By having a similar role as the Congressional Budget Office in the US, the bodies would ensure a reliable and unbiased “reality check” in times of fiscal profligacy.

Given that the target of imminent euro adoption is gone, and the large euro zone nations do not provide real leadership on fiscal soundness, there is less incentive for some of the new member states to stick to the consolidation of their public finances from today’s deficits above 5 per cent of GDP. The consolidation plans are already too dependent on a continued upturn. Whether in the old or new member states, there is an additional problem, as we are entering a period of intensifying structural changes. Old industrial patterns in Europe are being changed when confronted with both the boost to productivity from IT, as partly realised since the late 1990s in the US, and globalisation and enlargement, all of which supports this process. These trends will eventually help productivity and growth in Europe to start to catch up with the US again. But in the short term the structural changes will lead to higher frictional unemployment as old industries are more rapidly replaced by new ones. In addition, the recent downturn never led to a dramatic increase in unemployment or decrease in employment in the euro area; hence, the upturn is probably also less likely to lead to rapid job creation. Both factors create new incentives for fiscal policy to focus more on short-term job creation schemes and less on long-term fiscal soundness. So from this perspective, too, the hope that the recovery alone will “fix” the European deficit problem might be too optimistic.
Looking ahead, the financial system and the banking sector will benefit from the state’s efforts to diversify the economy and improve the investment environment through regulatory and structural measures taken in the various sectors. A number of new laws and regulatory guidelines have been enacted to enhance economic growth and achieve further opening of domestic markets. The laws included the Foreign Investment Law, the Capital Market and Cooperative Insurance Laws and a new Labour Law. Another important development is the Kingdom's accession to WTO. Turning to the Capital Market, its contribution to the growth of the Saudi economy has been clearly evident. Over the preceding few years, the market has witnessed remarkable development, and its role as a financial intermediary between savors and investors has been boosted. It would be appropriate to indicate that the recent market correction witnessed by the market has had no adverse consequences on the banks and banking system. This is because SAMA, through its supervisory functions, has undertaken measures necessary for safeguarding banks and customers against any unfavorable developments in the market. The measures included tightening prudential limits related to lending for trading in the market, issuing controls for consumer loans and other measures which would protect customers and banks against expansion in consumer loans which may end with trading in the equity market. Consequently, Saudi Banks have managed to do well in the first quarter of 2006.

But national policies across the world must take into account that the policy to take us out of the crisis must support the functioning of market economy, not constraining it. In this light, the growth prospects of the EU are very insecure. In the IMF's opinion GDP in EU countries will decrease 4% in 2009 and may decline by 0.3% next year. Industrial production in the EU has lowered to a level last recorded nearly ten years ago. Such pessimism contrasts rather sharply with the opinion quite widespread in the middle of 2008 – that Europe will not be hit very hard by the crisis. Reality, however, has turned out rather different. The EU has, on the one hand, been affected by loan losses suffered by major banks due to the financial crisis and, on the other hand, by drastic contraction in demand in its main export markets. The European Union is, for instance, much more open than the USA, thus the share of exports in its GDP is larger and its economy is more severely affected by dwindling global trade. In addition, banks in Europe have difficulties with financing enterprises, since on top of the losses suffered in securities markets, asset quality is also expected to deteriorate. To put it more simply, the share of bad loans will increase due to the recession. The economic crisis has affected EU Member States differently.