samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
This is not surprising given that 40–50% of our workforce are made up of technology-savvy millennials. Any industry player seriously looking to achieve long-term sustainability will need to master the integration of technology within their operating models beyond just setting up websites or establishing a social media presence. Instead, consider the interesting reality that customers use multiple channels before deciding to purchase protection. In the United States, half of the insurance customers that responded to a survey2 preferred to purchase life insurance in person with agents or advisors, as compared to purchasing online. Similarly, in the same Bain & Company study from earlier, it was found that inperson interactions still generate higher loyalty scores than other channels in most European countries. The fact is that customers employ a mix of on- and offline channels. Many of us already do this in other parts of our lives. We search for something online, then make the purchase at a bricksand-mortar outlet. And sometimes the other way round. The key takeaway here is that often, customers use digital channels to complement, not replace, traditional channels3. This bodes well for agents going forward – but only if the right conditions are in place. Agents and takaful operators need to work hand in hand to develop a comprehensive ecosystem catering to all segments of customers, whether online or off-line – or in marketing speak, an “omnichannel” approach.

But the Bill, taken together with the MOU which I have described, sets out those wider functions much more clearly than ever before, defining our responsibilities, our powers to exercise those responsibilities, and our lines of accountability to the Government, to Parliament and to the public at large. This is a much more precise framework for the Bank’s operations, but one which I am convinced is more appropriate to our modern times. I was delighted to learn last week that I am to be allowed to continue, for the next five years, to walk out with this attractive New Lady of Threadneedle Street, and I look forward to the challenge of carrying through the very positive changes now being made to the role and structure of the Bank. BIS Review 18/1998
However, its effects can be mitigated by monetary, fiscal and financial policy actions. Although the negative scenarios dominate, it is possible that Eurozone policy makers succeed in building a set of measures and reforms that soon restore market confidence. In any case, in such a scenario, given the required fiscal adjustments, the developed economies would continue to lag for a long period and would hold on to their loose monetary policies for some time. This would intensify the dichotomy between growth in advanced and emerging countries. In this context, a resurgence of capital inflows to emerging economies is a possibility. Domestically, one risk that cannot be ruled out are stronger effects from the higher external uncertainty, hitting harder the local financial markets, confidence, and consumption and investment decisions. Notwithstanding the capacity of economic policies to mitigate the effects of a more adverse external environment, it is important for the private sector to properly administer financial risks. Worth noting are the favorable financial indicators of the corporate sector (figure 10). In addition, currency mismatches continue to be stable and bounded, despite the increasing role of external debt as a source of funding. Still, it must be pointed out that financial intermediaries would be wise to keep a watchful eye on credit risk, considering its negative effects on external demand implied in the risk scenarios. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  As for households, on average the financial situation has not deteriorated. The recent increase in private consumption has evolved hand in hand with labor income.

But it would be unwise to simply assume the market will bottom out at these levels for three reasons. First, expectations of house price declines can easily be self-fulfilling. The feared loss in value can overwhelm the benefit of low mortgage rates, leading would-be buyers to sit out the market. Second, with home construction at minimal levels, housing supply cannot decline in response to weak demand. Home prices thus are very sensitive to shifts in demand and credit supply. If access to mortgage credit for home purchases is unduly restricted, the market-clearing price for housing will be lower than it would be if access to mortgage credit was less constrained. Third, in contrast to the efficient mechanisms in place in the commercial property market to work-out troubled debt, the infrastructure of the residential mortgage market is wholly 6  BIS central bankers’ speeches  inadequate to deal with a systemic shock to the housing market. Left alone, this flawed structure will destroy much more value in housing than is necessary. In a recent speech I called for a comprehensive approach to housing policy.
In this regard, the challenge would seem to be to strike a balance between, on the one hand, ensuring transparency and a level playing field and, on the other, giving due weight to the track record of economic policy and performance in the NMS, as well as to the implications for these  8  Schadler et al (2005)  BIS Review 53/2006  3  countries, and indeed for the euro-area as a whole, of an unduly rigid interpretation of the provisions of the Treaty. The application of the Maastricht criteria In making this point I am clearly not suggesting, as some academics have done, that the Maastricht criteria are “neither necessary, nor sufficient”. On the other hand, there are some aspects of the criteria that could legitimately be the subject of reflection. The calculation of the reference value of the inflation criterion is a case in point. Over the past few years there has been a debate about how one should define “best performance” in relation to inflation and also about the term “outlier”. And even about why countries outside the euro area should be included among the best performing countries. This debate appears to have resurfaced again during the preparatory phase of the current ECB Convergence Report. Another, and currently very topical aspect that also has ‘level playing field’ connotations is the impact of the ongoing spike in the international oil price.

To this effect, companies should put in place continuing training programmes for their directors. 14. MAS has recognised the importance of this by proposing new provisions on “continuous development” in the Corporate Governance Regulations and Guidelines for locally-incorporated banks and significant life insurers. 15. The proposed provisions require the boards of such companies to establish a continuing development programme for all directors, and a framework to identify relevant skills for such directors. Nominating Committees should assess at least once a year, whether directors lack any skills to perform their roles. 16. Besides getting the right training, directors must set the right tone for the company’s culture. Core values like honesty, integrity and fairness which underpin good governance must prevail among management and the company as a whole. The best company directors stand out with their commercial acumen as well as their strong ethical fibre. Where SID can play a part SID can play an important part in promoting the professional development of 17. directors by providing thought leadership, building a platform for sharing of best practices, and enhancing training standards for directors. In fact, SID has been doing this for the past years, including collaborating with the Singapore Management University to launch a formal certification program for directors. 18. SID has also been increasing its outreach both within and outside Singapore. These include: training workshops for China-based directors of Singapore-listed companies, as well as courses for our small and medium sized enterprises and private companies who are looking to list on the stock market.
This is the domain of the authorities. All taxes in Norway must be paid in Norwegian kroner. The governments of most countries have defined the country’s banknotes and coins as legal tender. This means that a buyer is entitled to make a payment in the country’s currency, and a seller can require payment in this currency. Legal tender cannot be refused as payment by either party. 4 Buyer and seller can of course agree on a different method of payment if they so wish. Second, trust is related to the role of the central bank. In most countries, it is taken as a matter of course that the central bank guarantees the value of the currency. The central bank is subject to democratic control. In Norway, Article 75 of the Constitution states that “It devolves upon the Storting [Norwegian parliament]… to supervise the monetary system of the realm”. At the same time, the people’s elected representatives have conferred independence on the central bank in the use of its instruments by means of the Norges Bank Act. This underpins trust in the central bank and ensures the democratic legitimacy of the system. For Norway’s founding fathers, another important objective was to ensure that the king and his government did not have direct access to the banknote printing press. Past experience had 2/9  BIS central bankers' speeches  shown that kings were not immune to temptation. The stability of the value of the currency in Norway is guaranteed by Norges Bank, and ultimately by the Norwegian government.

Thomas Jordan: The significance of academic research and teaching for the Swiss model for success Summary of a speech by Mr Thomas Jordan, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank, at the Dies academicus, University of Bern, Bern, 1 December 2018. * * * The complete speech can be found in German on the Swiss National Bank's website (www.snb.ch). The success of Switzerland in recent decades has largely been driven by the strong performance of its education system, which is crucial for economic prosperity, social cohesion and equality of opportunity overall. The Swiss National Bank (SNB), too, sets great store by a good education system, including universities that can hold their own against international competition. Many of the staff recruited by the SNB are destined for roles in which a university degree is a prerequisite. In addition, the SNB maintains close ties with the academic world, so that the latest related research findings can be incorporated into monetary policy decision-making. The competition of ideas stimulates and creates incentives for higher-quality monetary policy. This pursuit of excellence in academic education should not just be aimed at research, however; it should also target teaching. Experience has shown that foundation courses have a lasting effect on students' attitudes to certain topics. Teaching lays the basis for subsequent academic specialisation and career choice. As role models, professors carry a heavy responsibility.
This was an attempt to show the combined effects of short-term interest rates and the krona on inflation. The underlying thought was that if the krona strengthened, interest rates could be lower and vice versa. This was something that the Index could only illustrate roughly. The risk with such an index is that it can be interpreted too mechanically, as shown by experience from New Zealand and elsewhere. When the exchange rate weakens it tends to be used as an argument for raising the interest rate. In this context, MCI is a very good example of the risks of oversimplification in monetary policy. That which is of greatest importance as regards the exchange rate is precisely the same as with deregulations and asset prices – to evaluate each situation in the context of our objectives and our guiding principles. The important question is always why a certain movement in the exchange rate has occurred. If we know – and that is not always the case – we can perhaps say something about how long the movement might last. This can in turn guide us in how we use interest rates. There are central banks which now and again have to devote most of their communication to discussing the latest movements on the foreign exchange market. This is not something we should try to emulate. It is not the situation in which the Riksbank finds itself nowadays. But this has not always been the case.

3 Speech made on 22 January 1988 during the celebration of the anniversary of the signature of the Elysée Treaty. 4 Speech assessing the German Presidency, before the European parliament – 29 June 1983. 3/3  BIS central bankers' speeches
Allow me to take this opportunity to invite you to join this exchange of experiences in one of the aspects that is increasingly relevant to our institutions. The theme of this Conference, Economic Policies, Trade Integration and Sustainable Job Creation, is particularly timely at this current juncture of the world economy. The world remains in an expansionary phase although there are some signs pointing to a gradual change in the global economic landscape. Some of the risks that had been the focus of our attention are beginning to materialise. In particular, we are witnessing a re-emergence of protectionist measures with pernicious effects on international trade. Beyond the impact that this can have on growth in the short term, its potential impact on the diffusion of technological advances and on improving the welfare of individuals is more worrisome. In 3/4  order to preserve the benefits derived from globalisation and technological innovation, it is now more important than ever to work towards a fairer and stronger global trade system. To this end, it is necessary to work on the reform of the rules governing international trade to ensure that all countries compete on a level playing field. But also, and not least, domestic policy-makers have a responsibility to design the right policies for stimulating innovation and job creation, and creating opportunities for all.

16.11.2018  Welcome address at the Conference “Economic Policies, Trade Integration and Sustainable Job Creation. A View from the Mediterranean Countries” Banco de España and European Institute of the Mediterranean with the support of the Central Bank of Tunisia Pablo Hernández de Cos Governor  Good morning ladies and gentlemen. It is a great pleasure for me to be here in Tunis to welcome you all to this Conference on Economic Policies, Trade Integration and Sustainable Job Creation, jointly organised by the Central Bank of Tunisia, the Banco de España and the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed). Let me start by thanking Governor El Abassi for his kind words and our colleagues from the Central Bank of Tunisia and the European Institute of the Mediterranean for their cooperation in organising this Conference. I would also like to congratulate Governor El Abassi and all the staff of the Central Bank of Tunisia for the 60th anniversary of this institution, created just two years after the independence of Tunisia. I wish to convey my best wishes for the future of this institution which, through the attainment of its of macroeconomic and financial stability objectives, can make a decisive contribution to the prosperity of the country and its citizens. Governor El Abbasi, I hope that this Conference will be an initial step towards permanent cooperation between our respective institutions.
This need is aggravated by the fact that security features previously reserved for banknotes are nowadays increasingly being used to protect such items as security documents, drugs and brand products. As a result, the know-how in security technology at the producer level is becoming trivialised and more prevalent. An increasing number of persons in more and more countries possess some elements of the security know-how that has so far been typically used for banknotes. This also poses a potential risk to the security of banknotes. It was notably the progress made in counterfeiting technology that, over the decades, lowered the life span of a banknote series from forty to around fifteen years. The life span could become even shorter in the future. Formerly, a counterfeiter mainly had to be a skilful artisan. Nowadays, counterfeits are produced not only by experts, but increasingly by laypersons using colour copy machines, colour printers, and scanners. The dissemination of PCs and low-priced, yet qualitatively excellent scanners and printers today enables virtually anybody to produce good counterfeits at low cost and effort. The six well-known security features on our banknotes are still difficult to counterfeit, though, and the  1/3  public can easily verify whether the banknotes are genuine. Moreover, we have updated the currently valid banknote series with regard to security technology as far as this was possible and reasonable.

So far, measures adopted in the context of the CMU initiative, albeit positive and helpful, are not yet commensurate with the ambition of the project. With CMU, we should aim to reach a situation where both issuers and investors enjoy the same basic legal rights concerning capital markets activity regardless of the EU country where they are located. The CMU project involves all EU member states but it is particularly important for the euro area member countries. It is a big waste to have taken the huge step to adopt a single currency and continue to forgo the benefits that could be reaped by creating a true banking and capital markets union. I believe that euro area countries should forge ahead in enhanced co-operation in order to achieve CMU more rapidly. We should however, be well aware that CMU requires a European safe asset, the harmonisation of taxes on financial products, a convergence of company law, including on bankruptcy, the 6/9  BIS central bankers' speeches  creation of a single rule book of regulation for markets activity and ultimately a European Single Securities Market Supervisor. The other big condition is a rock solid monetary union so that assets’ risks and returns are not significantly influenced by redenomination risk but exclusively by their idiosyncratic features. A heavy toll, I know, but I will believe that the CMU project is possible when I see authorities start making inroads in some of those difficult issues. Thank you for your attention.
The chart on the left of side 10 shows that compared to the situation in 2005, the distribution of returns on equity for large and complex banking groups (LCBGs) has become more compressed around the mean with the profitability of the institutions in the lower quantiles remaining unchanged or increasing slightly. At the same time, Tier 1 capital bases comfortably exceeded the regulatory minima for solvency ratios, pointing to a reassuring shock-absorbing capacity. Risk management among LCBGs is expected to improve further as the Basel II capital rules are being implemented in the course of the current year. Special Feature articles B and C in this edition of the FSR introduce a model for stress-testing the resilience of euro area LCBGs in the face of a wide range of adverse shocks to the global macrofinancial environment. The results suggest that the corporate credit quality of LCBGs tends to deteriorate following negative shocks to GDP and oil prices as well as an appreciation of the euro against the US dollar. The worsening credit quality, in turn, can have a rather marked negative impact on banks’ solvency as measures by Tier 1 capital ratios. In recent years, euro area LCBGs have faced challenges in increasing, or at least maintaining, interest income as a share of total income, but they have enjoyed further improvements in fee, commission and especially trading income. Indeed, the share of banks’ trading income in net operating income rose significantly in 2006.

Such a rise in prices cannot and may not be corrected with monetary policy measures as long as no wage-price spiral is set in motion. First, we do not know whether this price rise is a permanent or merely a temporary phenomenon. Second, the change in oil prices impacts directly on the price level, whereas monetary policy changes act only indirectly and after a considerable time lag. Third, higher oil prices constitute a cost shock that cannot be countered by means of monetary policy. Experience shows that a monetary policy which attempts to counteract the effects of a one-off increase in oil prices on the price level can cause considerable damage to the national economy. Furthermore, it must be noted that the present price increase is modest in a historical comparison. For example, during the second oil price shock at the end of the 1970s, oil cost approximately twice as much as today calculated at current prices. Our interest rate decision of today is thus not aimed at combating the effects of the oil price rise on inflation. The increase in oil prices nevertheless casts a shadow over the prospects for the economy, which are optimistic overall. We are not of the opinion, however, that the upswing is threatened by this. Model calculations have shown that higher oil prices would slow growth in Switzerland only moderately.
So it shows that a smaller country can still benefit by negotiating Partnership Agreements with a much larger economy. For that to happen, the Agreement has to be based on two principles. One is the principle of non-reciprocity, that is, the larger country has to do much more than the smaller country. And two, special and differential treatment in terms of the phasing of the trade liberalization. So you build in mechanisms which take into account the asymmetry in the economies. Both China and India recognize  the  principles  of  non-reciprocity  and  special  and  Page 13 of 17  differential treatment. Their negative lists would be much shorter than ours; their positive lists would be much longer than ours. They will allow us, I am confident, o negotiate safeguard agreements. These mean that if you have a sudden surge in  imports,; if say imports go up by say 20-25% over a short period of time, you can automatically put in place safeguards through increased tariffs. That’s a well-used practice, so that you get  protection as a small country against import surges from larger countries. Equally, you can negotiate a good dispute resolution mechanism, which gives you a chance to address your issues that come up when in dealing with a larger country. So, there are these mechanisms, well tried and tested mechanisms, which can be used for us to ensure that we get a good deal.

This was especially so between 2000 and 2016, wherein GDP increased by a compounded annual growth rate of 10.4%, while exports grew only 4%. Page 5 of 17  Sri Lanka’s economic growth during the past decade or so has mainly been generated by the expansion of domestic demand, rather than increased exports. The tradable sector, that is Imports and Exports as a percentage of GDP, declined from nearly 80% to 45% from 2005 to 2015. As a Small Open Economy you simply  cannot do that. The problems were compounded by a heavy recourse to foreign commercial borrowing for projects with low returns. That is what has led to the debt problems and many of the other difficulties we are having. When compared with regional peers and competitors, Sri Lanka’s export performance has lagged behind significantly. The Export Value Index presented by the World Bank shows the extent to which Sri Lanka’s export sector has been lagging in comparison to its regional counterparts, during the period from 2000 to 2015. Sri Lanka has only increased its exports by 1.9 times in that period 2000 to 2015, while Vietnam and Bangladesh have increased by 11.2 times and 5.1 times respectively. Even South Korea and  Thailand which have a much higher base, increased their exports by 3.1 times, whereas we, as I said only recorded a 1.9.