samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Euro area sovereign debt problems starting from May 2010 led to renewed uncertainties regarding external demand. This outlook confirmed our projection that policy rates should be kept at low levels for an extended period. Hence, the monetary policy stance was maintained and policy rates were held fixed at low levels throughout May-August 2010. BIS central bankers’ speeches  13  41. After necessary conditions to implement the second step of the technical rate adjustment process within the exit strategy were attained, overnight interest rates were reduced by 25 basis points in September 2010. With the completion of the gradual technical interest rate adjustment process in line with the exit strategy, 1-week repo auctions have been the main funding instrument of the CBRT. However, with other short-term lending and borrowing options being granted overnight and in order to harmonize maturities of similar liquidity management tools, it was decided that the repo facility, which was extended to primary dealers within the open market operations framework, would only be available at overnight maturity starting from October 15, 2010, and 3-month repo auctions were terminated. 42. Furthermore, with the objective to bring foreign exchange liquidity facilities orderly and gradually back to pre-crisis levels as part of the exit strategy, the foreign exchange reserve requirement ratio was raised by a total of 2 percentage points to 11 percent with the adjustments in April, July and September.

In this respect, I wish to make a concrete commitment to the fight against overindebtedness, with, since 1 January 2018, a simplified procedure, which will reduce processing times by several months for many of the 180.000 families that we help each year. I also wish to commit to promoting financial inclusion: we have recently adopted, together with banks and associations, the recommendations to extend the diffusion of specific banking services to vulnerable customers, because there is still insufficient awareness of this right, with only 10% benefiting from it. Lastly, as regards the economic and financial education of the public, in order to build on the achievements of 2017 with our 450,000 pages consulted on our website "mesquestionsdargent.fr", and almost 15,000 social service providers and 3,000 teachers have been given information by Banque de France staff, we will do more still in 2018. I have two last wishes to make, anniversary wishes this time: for our Golden Gallery, whose 300th anniversary we are celebrating, a venerable age, and for the European Central bank, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary on 1 June 2018. Two more joyous occasions for us to meet again this year. Happy New Year to you, to your businesses, and to our country. 3/3  BIS central bankers' speeches
Or the incentives, here in the USA, for Government Sponsored Enterprises such as Fannie and Freddie – massive players in global capital markets and so with a significance stretching beyond your borders – to take on more risk in lending to poorer households. Or for banks to badge illiquid ABS tranches as trading positions in order to benefit from much lower Trading Book capital requirements. Or for banks to move credit portfolios to off-balance sheet vehicles supported by liquidity lines against which no regulatory capital had to be held. I could go on and on. The microeconomics of finance matters hugely to stability. The faultlines of the system are sometimes obscure. And a macroprudential authority needs, therefore, to be attentive to the complex ways in which the different parts of the financial system interact, generating leverage and liquidity risk. Threats may often be buried in the complex details of the system – subprime CDO2, conduits and SIVs etc in the latest crisis; investment trust cross holdings in the 1920s – but the task is to make the connections without getting lost in the trees. Which brings me from scene setting to the real world of the new UK framework. The UK’s new Financial Policy Committee Who we are The FPC exists. We will hold our first formal policy meeting in June. We are a Committee of eleven.

Gent Sejko: Welcome remarks - 16th SEE Economic Research Workshop Welcome remarks by Mr Gent Sejko, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the 16th SEE Economic Research Workshop, Tirana, 5 December 2022. *** Your Excellency Ambassador Huber, Dear guests and speakers from central banks, academia and research institutions, Dear colleagues, Welcome in the 16th South-Eastern European Economic Research Workshop. It is a great pleasure hosting this event in-person this year, as we hoped in the last workshop, even though only partially, after two years of holding its proceeds virtually. One lesson learned and adopted from the pandemic, in a broader dimension, was how to operate in a virtual environment and ensure that all our participants can be fully engaged in these proceedings-whether you're here in person or joining us virtually. I take this opportunity to extend my appreciation to all of you for your continuous dedication and precious contribution. I'm really grateful that this initiative, which has started 16 years ago, has grown and has taken such dimensions, by enforcing and extending over the years the cooperation between central bankers, academics and policymakers not only within the SEE region, but from all over the world. As in many prestigious central banks, even at the Bank of Albania, the economic research has an important role in its overall activity, by providing continuous support to both policy design and implementation processes through the novel and sophisticated empirical tools adopted for policy analysis and forecasting.
And, increasingly, these tests are being applied in recruitment decisions, when seeking to match the characteristics of potential employees to an organisation. These same tests have been far less often used by organisations to gauge the cognitive diversity of their existing employees. For example, there is no reason they could not be used to construct a cognitive map of an entire organisation to gauge its degree of cognitive diversity. Making transparent that cognitive map would then provide incentives to take seriously any lack of cognitive diversity, as well as enabling peer comparison. As the measurement technology exists, these would be big but eminently feasible steps for organisations to take. To be futuristic for a moment, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans these days provide a different lens on cognitive and personality traits – a techni-colour cognitive map. It is early days to be drawing firm links between the brain’s wiring and individual character traits, but progress has been rapid. As one example, the neuro-biology company Emotiv Lifesciences has created a brainwave reading rig, which offers real-time analysis of cognitive activity. 65 While we are some way from arming ourselves with only an MRI scan when judging performance and potential, perhaps in future that will not seem so fanciful. The Bank is taking steps to improve its own cognitive diversity. For example, it has sought to widen the range of disciplines from which it recruits over the past few years. Of this year’s graduate cohort, only 40% has a degree in pure economics and finance.

A number of initiatives have already started, such as the current negotiations over an ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement, which will further help to cement this relationship. The private and public sectors of both sub-regions could benefit from this synergy and ride on the momentum of growth towards what many have termed “the Asian Century”. There is an immense potential to realize from the individual comparative advantages of all the countries in South and East Asia. While China’s trade share with India as a fraction of India’s total trade stands at 7.7%, another 15.6% of India’s trade is with the other 8 Asian economies. India has the potential to lead trade and economic growth and specialization in the South Asian region. I note with great interest the developments under the landmark agreement to create a South Asian Free Trade Area (or SAFTA), which includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. As I understand it, the SAFTA, scheduled to come into effect on 1 January 2006, will more than double the size of the market in the region. Implementation of the SAFTA along with the needed reforms to facilitate intra regional trade could spearhead growth and investments within the region. These in turn could raise the profile of the South Asian region as another pillar of growth of the global economy. We recognize all too well that the process of reform, deregulation, and trade liberalization takes time and a strong political will, as well as business sector understanding and acceptance of change.
Among these, I can mention the amendments to the Constitutional Organic Law (LOC) of the Central Bank to perfect the regulations applicable to payment systems established in the country and recognize payment infrastructures in foreign jurisdictions involving local financial institutions. Other points include raising the limits for foreign investment of insurance companies, making it easier for international custodians to settle in Chile, expanding investment alternatives for the Pension Funds and the Unemployment Fund, as well as moving towards a risk-based model of supervision for such funds. About financial inclusion, one noteworthy regulatory change has been the Law that allows nonbank entities to issue prepaid cards (Law No. 20,950—2016), aimed at promoting the development and massification of electronic payments and increasing financial inclusion, along with boosting competition in means of payment. Its implementation requires that the Bank (and the SBIF) issue the rules that will regulate this activity. These, besides regulating the implementation of prepaid cards, will incorporate another series of normative improvements on the payment system in general, which should contribute to favor the development, competition and incorporation of new technologies in the field. A final change worth mentioning is the Law that will create the Financial Market Committee, which will bring about a very significant change in our country’s financial regulation and supervision structure, and whose implementation poses a major challenge for public politics. Despite these significant advances, big challenges await us.

These attributes are complemented by a competitive tax regime. In the 2008 Forbes Tax Misery and Reform Index, Malta was classified as the fifth most tax-friendly country worldwide for companies and the most attractive in the EU. In addition, Malta has an extensive network of almost fifty double taxation treaties, and income earned overseas may be exempted from double taxation even when no bilateral treaty exists. Malta’s development as an international financial centre is reflected in the range of financial services available. Complementing the traditional retail functions, banks are increasingly offering private and investment banking, project finance, treasury services and syndicated loans. Malta also hosts a number of institutions specializing in trade-related products such as structured trade finance, factoring and forfeiting. At the end of last year, the number of banks stood at 22, up from 17 in 2004. The assets of the banking system, including both the domestically and the internationally-oriented banks, totalled € billion at the end of 2008, an increase of 10.5% over 2007 and nearly double the total in 2004. Other areas, too, have experienced rapid growth. These include fund management and collective investment schemes, captive insurance, asset management, back office  2  BIS Review 65/2009  processing facilities and call centres. Following the recent legislation on professional investment funds, considerable interest has also been shown by the hedge fund industry.
The economic crisis, continuing into 2010, only confirmed these expectations of mine. Banks not only did not become the reason for deepening the problems in our economy, but they were also the main pillar of stability and driver for overcoming the problems. The Bulgarian banking system continued to be a paragon of stability and predictability in the face of the unprecedented slowdown in over a decade. As regards the blatantly provocative “projections” of some domestic and foreign “analysts”, just a few days ago I reminded you of their fantasies in a sort of a chart of “unfulfilled black predictions” about the Bulgarian banking system. The coming year 2011 is a year of elections. We at the Central Bank are well aware that it could be possible for some of the local candidates for glory – the eternal candidates to come back on the big political scene – to actively try and “sell fear” during the elections year 2011. So watch out! The situation is very complicated, and yet the banking sector stays flexible and efficient; while the number of non-performing loans is on the increase, the system goes on generating current profits. Despite the deteriorated quality of loan portfolios, Bulgarian banks did manage to keep considerable capital buffers, given the provisions of over BGN 4.5 billion allocated only by October. Is there any other country among the 27 EU member-states, apart from Bulgaria, that in these circumstances could be proud of the remarkable 18% capital adequacy and total liquidity ratio of nearly 22%?

Ivan Iskrov: Reflections on the past year Speech by Mr Ivan Iskrov, Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, to the Association of Banks in Bulgaria on the occasion of the Banker’s Day, Sofia, 6 December 2010. *  *  *  Ladies and Gentlemen, It’s a great pleasure to be here this evening with you all, on 6th December, Saint Nicholas Day, and celebrate our professional holiday. Over the last eight years I and my colleagues from the BNB Governing Council, regardless of our numerous engagements, have not missed a single occasion to be with you and celebrate this great day. By this gesture we show our respect for and acknowledgement of the job well done by you in favour of the national economy. Commercial banks are not merely some of the many capitalist businesses focused on profit making for their shareholders. The banking system is a major part of the infrastructure of any market economy; it is its circulatory system. Without our daily committed work, our state would not be able to function properly. By tradition today we have the chance to pause and reflect on the past year and to share our hopes that in the year to come we would again successfully meet the new challenges. I have no doubts about that because we all have proved that we are capable of turning trials into useful experience, and experience into a means of completing the mission that society has assigned to us.
I welcome constructive suggestions very much and we are in the process of meeting with those who are so kind as to offer their views and go through the vigorous technical discussions that good ideas deserve. 17. So far I am glad that there is full support for our linked exchange rate system. No one liked the prospect of Hong Kong being swept along in the process of competitive devaluation in the region and sharper downward adjustment in asset prices. At the technical level, two schools of thought could be identified at this stage. One expressed concern on the scope in which the Hong Kong Monetary Authority exercised discretion in our rule-based monetary system. Associated with this are also suggestions for improvement on how the system could be allowed to work more effectively and automatically. The other felt that the HKMA should have been more forthcoming in relieving the tightness in the money market and therefore the pain of those affected. 18. Interestingly, the two schools of thought are quite polarized. And, as always, the correct course should be somewhere in between, involving a good mix of pragmatism in the light of present day circumstances in financial markets, having regard also to the need for the HKMA to function as the lender of last resort to the banking system, but without any departure from the strict discipline of the currency board system requiring full US dollar backing for the Hong Kong dollar monetary base. This, incidentally, has very much been the attitude of the HKMA.

B S B aims to link multiple platforms domestically and internationally, connecting buyers, suppliers, marketplaces, and service providers across economies If successful, the BSB experiment will demonstrate that the key to supply chain resilience is not to isolate and retreat behind borders, but to strengthen connectivity across borders even more. Resilient Industry The second dimension is a resilient industry – one that can continue to function in the face of disruptions and movement restrictions. Digitalisation is one of the ways in which an industry can build resilience. We have seen, amid the COVID-19 lockdowns, how firms which have gone digital earlier have managed to ensure business continuity, with the transition to working remotely and serving customers online. To ensure resilience, digitalisation needs to be end-to-end. If every part of a process is digitalised except one step which requires an in-person interaction, or a wet ink signature, or a payment in physical cash, then the “digital chain” is broken and resilience compromised. In financial services, this is what we have been aiming for: to be digital to the core. 3/7  BIS central bankers' speeches  Digital trade finance solutions are trying to achieve seamlessness, to help facilitate trade flows. At the Singapore FinTech Festival last year, a trade finance application portal was launched as a value-added service on Singapore’s Networked Trade Platform, which allowed traders and businesses to seamlessly apply for financing from nine banks.
As ever, we remain in the price stability business. The open question is how we will act in order to achieve the 2% inflation target sustainably, given the substantial challenges of the moment. That is the question on which I hope to shed some light this evening. Before developing this theme, let me start by recognising what a privilege it is to gather with the ‘Money Marketeers’ here in New York tonight. I would particularly like to thank Kris Dawsey for extending the invitation to speak. I understand that the objective of this longstanding group is ‘to foster greater understanding of finance and economics among senior practitioners and developing professionals [so as] to establish greater dialogue between the public and private sector on those substantive issues that move markets’. [1] Meeting that objective is a tall order. Today, I hope to make a modest contribution in support of this collective effort by exploring some of the similarities and differences between the outlook for monetary policy back home in the UK and the outlooks in other jurisdictions.

This initiative of the private sector sets out the terms under which the 18 largest dealer banks, which represent 90% of derivative activity, would stay cross-border derivative contracts temporarily when a global bank fails. This is a fundamental step to closing off the risk that foreign counterparties take their money and run. By agreeing to a short stay, cross border resolution becomes much more realistic and achievable. Once this agreement is concluded, other market participants must be brought onto similar terms to those of the 18 big dealers, and FSB members must deliver on their commitments to establish regulatory requirements for contractual stays. There is more to do. Resolution plans must be finalised; we must systematically remove remaining legal and operational impediments to resolvability, we must think through mechanisms to ensure firms have adequate funding in resolution, and we must ensure resolution regimes for systemic non-banks are as effective as they are for banks But make no mistake. Brisbane will be the watershed in our collective effort to end Too Big to Fail. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Building an open, global financial system Fixing the fault lines behind the last crisis isn’t enough. The second objective of the G20’s efforts is to rebuild trust in an open, global financial system. Trust between financial institutions. Trust between regulators. Trust between industry and finance. And most fundamentally, trust between the public and the financial system. That trust is essential to maintaining a truly global financial system that integrates all major economies.
We need to better understand what these shifts in the financial system imply for financial stability and the financing of the real economy. On the positive side, an increase in market-based finance can help to diversify the funding base of the real economy and investors are increasingly benefitting from diversification effects. However, as the risks arising from leverage and liquidity mismatches in investment funds are potentially systemic, we need to take a more ambitious policy approach to systemic risk. Extending the macroprudential framework to the asset management sector and developing policy tools to address emerging risks will be an important step in preparing for possible future stress scenarios. 1 Figures exclude money market funds (MMFs). 2 These include the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) Directive, the  Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) and the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR). 3 E.g. see International Monetary Fund, Global Financial Stability Report, Chapter 3: “The Asset Management  Industry and Financial Stability”, April, 2015. 4 See Testimony of Chairman Alan Greenspan on private-sector refinancing of LTCM before the Committee on  Banking and Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, October 1, 1998. 5 E.g. new data is reported under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). 6 See FSB “Policy Recommendations to Address Structural Vulnerabilities from Asset Management Activities”, 12  January 2017.

Between 1999 and 2007, the ratio of public sector debt to GDP in EMU declined on average by around 6 percentage points – while the ratio of private sector debt to GDP increased by almost 27 percentage points. To give just one example, in Spain the ratio of private sector debt to GDP increased by around 75 per cent, while the ratio of public debt to GDP fell by around 35 per cent. The key point for this discussion was that all of these private flows were being intermediated by the banking sector, which had become much more integrated as a result of monetary union. Hence the official bodies best placed to identify these growing risks, and act to prevent them, were national bank supervisors both in lending and borrowing countries. However, they lacked both the cross-border perspective and also the instruments to do so. After all, their mandates were national and did not extend to systemic risks building up for the euro area as a whole. European financial integration went far ahead any European oversight and financial stability and as a result financial stability was unwittingly sacrificed.3 How would Banking Union have helped? By moving supervision and other national financial policies to the European level, the problem can be solved. Supervisors can take a euro areawide view of financial developments, identify early the build-up of systemic risks, and use appropriate macro-prudential tools to counteract them.