samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Also, I wish to thank other institutions and various parties involved directly with the Central Bank and the financial institutions including the Ministry of Finance, Inland Revenue Department, Securities and Exchange Commission, Colombo Stock Exchange, Registrar of Companies, Panel of Auditors, legal and other consultancy firms for their valuable contribution to make this programme a success. Last but not least, my sincere thanks is extended to the directors and the staff of the two departments, the Supervision of Banks, and, the Supervision of Non-bank Financial Institutions, for their untiring contribution in making this programme one of the most successful projects carried out by the Central Bank in the recent past. Once again, I wish to thank the Governor and the Organising Committee of the Annual Oration headed by Mr. D Wasantha, Assistant Governor of the Central Bank, for inviting me  16  BIS central bankers’ speeches  to share our thoughts on this important policy reform with this distinguished gathering today. Ladies and gentlemen, while thanking you for your patient listening, I invite each of you to be an active partner of this financial sector consolidation programme and stand by our vision, “TO TRANSFORM SRI LANKA’S FINANCIAL SECTOR TO BE AMONGST THE TOP 5 WELL-MANAGED FINANCIAL CENTRES IN ASIA BY 2020”. THANK YOU. BIS central bankers’ speeches  17

Domestic demands have been helped not only by direct government spending, but also by other government schemes that injected funds directly to the grass roots. We had the Bht 74 billion village fund (approx $ 1.7 billion) whereby each village had been allocated Bht one million to on lend to village members, often under group mutual guarantees. We also had the micro loan scheme organised by the Government Savings Bank, the government owned bank, which lend directly to the poor. Ladies and gentlemen, The good news went on. Despite the strong recovery, we have been able to keep inflation under check. Headline inflation for 2002 was 0.7% and core inflation 0.4%. The adverse affect from high oil prices has not translated into much inflation. BIS Review 8/2003  1  Our currency was also quite stable. For the whole of 2002, the bath appreciated against the US dollar by less than 2%, which was quite modest compared to other Asian currencies. The international reserves level was also ample at $ 38.9 billion, allowing us to aim to pay back all the loans under the IMF program by the end of July this year. Moreover, three major credit rating agencies, S&P, Moody’s, and Fitch Ratings, all assigned better outlook to the Thai economy. Japan Credit Rating Agency did in fact upgrade Thailand’s sovereign rating from BBB to BBB+ last November. Such widespread improvement in confidence among consumers, entrepreneurs, and investors helped support both consumption and investment throughout the year.
4/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  1 BIS’ definition of international claims comprises cross-border claims and local claims of foreign banks’  affiliates in foreign currency. 2 2 Based on a presentation by E Remolona (2017), “Bank flows in EMEAP: Neither a lender nor a borrower be”. See also E Remolona and I Shim (2015), “The rise of regional banking in Asian and the Pacific”, BIS Quarterly Review, September 2015. 3 4 World Bank (2015), “The Global Findex Database 2014: Measuring Financial Inclusion around the World”. 4 5 Asian Development Bank (2017), “Accelerating Financial Inclusion in South-East Asia with Digital Finance”. 5/5  BIS central bankers' speeches

News conference  Embargo 23 March 2023, 10.00 am  Introductory remarks by the Governing Board  Thomas Jordan, Martin Schlegel and Andréa M. Maechler Chairman of the Governing Board / Vice Chairman of the Governing Board / Member of the Governing Board Swiss National Bank Zurich, 23 March 2023 © Swiss National Bank  Page 1/6  Zurich, 23 March 2023 Thomas Jordan, Martin Schlegel and Andréa M. Maechler  News conference  Ladies and gentlemen It is my pleasure to welcome you to the news conference of the Swiss National Bank. After our introductory remarks, we will take questions from journalists as usual. Contribution to financial stability  Ensuring price stability is and will remain the core objective of the SNB. Our monetary policy assessment has taken place in an exceptional situation. Last week, there was a loss of confidence in Credit Suisse. In order to avert damage to Switzerland, on Sunday the authorities decided on extensive measures to safeguard financial stability. The SNB contributed to this solution within the framework of its mandate. I would like to describe our contribution in more detail and explain why it was necessary. The global crisis of confidence rapidly intensified last week due to the turmoil in the US banking industry. From Wednesday onwards, this had a direct impact on Credit Suisse’s liquidity situation as a result of strong outflows of customer deposits and cuts in counterparty limits. The SNB then lent Credit Suisse large amounts of liquidity in Swiss francs and foreign currencies.
The far-reaching transformation of the banking system and the enhanced position of Spanish banks will enable them to meet the foreseeable increase in the demand for credit as our economy picks up. Outlook for the Spanish economy To conclude, I wish to refer to our economic outlook within Monetary Union. On the information available for the first quarter of the year, Spanish GDP is expected to have increased at a quarter-on-quarter rate of 0.8%, making for a year-on-year rate of 2.5%, above the forecasts at the start of the year. This improved growth should be viewed as part of the overall picture for the euro area, which saw growth of 0.9% in 2014 compared with 0.4% in 2013. Both in the Spanish economy and in the euro area as a whole, this improvement in growth is being driven by consumption, the contribution of exports and the improvement in gross capital formation due, above all, to the pick-up in construction, although the decline in oil prices and the depreciation of the euro are also playing their part. Allow me to focus on two key elements here: employment and the change of tempo in the construction sector. The employment figures confirm this recovery in activity. In March, 1.4 million contracts were registered, 18.5% more than in March 2014, with significant growth in permanent and, in particular, in full-time contracts.

Interest rate risk measures the potential for loss which results from a mismatch between the term structure of a bank’s assets (e.g. mortgages) and that of its liabilities (e.g. customer deposits). While the term structure of assets gets increasingly longer, that of liabilities remains very short. The rise in credit risk was due, on the one hand, to the deterioration in the outlook for the Swiss economy. A slowdown in economic growth in Switzerland could have a negative impact on domestic credit quality, with the result that banks would face the prospect of writeoffs on their assets. On the other hand, the continued strong rise in mortgage loans and real estate prices has also caused credit risk to increase further in the past few months. Furthermore, the results of our mortgage lending surveys suggest a high risk appetite on the part of individual banks. In this regard, the Federal Department of Finance (FDF) submitted two important measures for consultation which should counter potential imbalances in the real estate and mortgage markets: more risk-sensitive capital requirements for mortgage lending and a countercyclical capital buffer. With more risk-sensitive capital requirements, incentives for mortgage lending should be structurally improved. The countercyclical buffer is a component of the Basel III framework and represents a variable capital requirement which is only activated in the event of excessive credit growth. As soon as credit growth weakens again, the buffer can be deactivated.
This applies to debt instruments issued after 1 January 2013. BIS central bankers’ speeches  7  However, many observers believe that a risk-neutral measure such as the leverage ratio constitutes an incentive for the banks to invest in assets that carry a higher risk and that this is directly counter to the traditional capital adequacy regulations. In Sweden, the criticism from the industry has been particularly sharp. The reason for this is that a large proportion (approximately 40 per cent) of the Swedish banks’ balance sheets consists of mortgages. As mortgages are considered to carry a low risk they are also subject to low capital requirements. This thus means that banks can have large volumes of mortgages and relatively little capital but still be able to report a high level of capital adequacy. When we now introduce a measure that does not take into account the banks’ risk profile, this will probably hit the Swedish banks harder than those in some other countries. It is probably the case that regulations that do not take risks into account can lead to a poorer pricing of risk and to greater risk taking. As banks are companies that aim to maximise their profits and high risk is generally related to high returns, there will always be a willingness to invest in high-risk assets. And taking high risks can, as we all know, contribute to financial crises that have severe effects on the economy.

But, much more can be done and need to be done to foster an ecosystem that promotes the overall sustainability—that will discourage misallocation of resources, limit corruptive practices, and help preserve our environment. Adoption of best practices in sustainability is not just about making positive impacts to our society, but it can also be beneficial to financial institutions in a number of ways. First, it can help ensure long-term sustainability of financial institutions themselves. Growing acceptance of sustainability practices globally has encouraged new standards and practices and raised the expectation of our society. Early adopters of sustainability practices can meet society’s ever-increasing expectation; take lead in setting new industry standards; and make timely and necessary adjustment to their business models. These sustainability practices will help financial institutions mitigate strategic, operational, and reputational risks. Second, financial institutions can better attract and retain a new generation of talents, especially the millennials, who are increasingly more attracted to firms with sustainability and philanthropic practices4. This is no surprise because these young individuals are becoming more concerned of sustainability issues and want to take part in making positive impacts. Therefore, firms with strong sustainability values and practices can attract these talents by offering the additional satisfaction beyond remuneration benefits. Third, adoption of sustainability can help financial institutions gain access to increasing pool of capitals, given the increasing volume of funds and investment products based on sustainability 4  The 2017 Millennial Impact Report. The Millennial Impact Project, 2017. 5/6  criteria.
Michael Bonello: The challenge of the Euro Speech by Mr Michael C Bonello, Governor of the Central Bank of Malta, at the Second International Summit organised by The Economist/Caja Madrid, Madrid, 8 July 2002. *  *  *  It is a pleasure and an honour to be in Madrid today to participate in this discussion on challenges related to the adoption of the euro and to share a platform with such distinguished speakers. Since I have been invited to present the perspective of a small candidate country, I propose to start by briefly recalling some key facts about Malta and its economy. Malta is a micro-state, with a population of nearly 400,000 living in an area of just over 300 km2. In 2001 nominal GDP amounted to € billion, or less than 0.1% of that of the euro area. This translates into a level of income per capita estimated at around half the European Union (EU) average. Market services, including tourism and finance, account for nearly two-fifths of GDP, while manufacturing contributes almost a quarter. Given its size and lack of natural resources, it is not surprising that Malta has one of the most open economies in the world, with imports and exports combined amounting to nearly double GDP. The EU is Malta’s main trading partner, accounting for two-fifths of its exports and nearly two-thirds of its imports during 2001. It is an even more important market for the tourist industry and is a major source of capital inflows.

If agents expect inflation to go down towards a target, they will price their goods accordingly and inflation persistence will be lower. If, in contrast, agents expect inflation to persist in high levels, they will price goods higher, making inflation more persistent and more difficult for the central bank to bring it down. As stated in Bernanke (2007): “a one-off change in energy prices can translate into persistent inflation only if it leads to higher expected inflation and a consequent “wage-price spiral”. With inflation expectations well anchored, a one-time increase in energy prices should not lead to a permanent increase in inflation, but only to a change in relative prices.” Credibility of the target in an inflation-targeting regime is therefore a key asset. If we were to give up on the inflation commitment, the future adjustment of interest rates to rein in inflation would have to be much larger, with adverse consequences on economic activity and relative prices, in particular the exchange rate. Indeed, we have witnessed many experiences where a persistent rise in inflation has required strong monetary policy actions, the most notable case being the great inflation of the USA in the 1970s and early 80s. The control of inflation in Chile has also come with a decline in inflationary persistence. Therefore, a credible commitment to price stability brings along output stability. Output stability, in turn, is an important factor to foster economic growth and the consequent social progress that comes with it (Ramey and Ramey, 1995, and Fatas, 2002).
But even though the zero lower bound is not absolute, the effect of further cuts will diminish as rates approach or fall below zero. The most important limitation on how far down it makes sense to go is related to the existence of an alternative to bank deposits, i.e. cash. Negative bank deposit rates can always be avoided by holding cash instead. The disadvantage is that cash is more expensive to manage than electronic deposit money. Transport, storage and security all involve costs. For a bank participating in the settlement system, where large amounts are reinvested at frequent intervals across accounts and across banks, the costs involved in switching to cash will be considerable. Central bank deposit rates can therefore be below zero. How far below, is an open question. For many retail customers, exchanging bank deposits for cash will be fairly inexpensive. A safe deposit box can be rented for less than € a year. If bank customers choose to withdraw their deposits and hold cash, banks will lose an important part of their funding. This is probably an important reason why banks in countries with negative policy rates are reluctant to set negative deposit rates, particularly for households. If banks hold back on deposit rates, lending rates can only fall to a limited extent before banks’ earnings are reduced. A lower policy rate will probably have a less-than-normal effect on lending rates, weakening the impact of monetary policy via the demand channel.

For details on liquidity management in Sweden, see “The Riksbank’s operational framework for the implementation of monetary policy – a review”, Riksbank Studies, March 2014, Sveriges Riksbank. 6  In Denmark and Switzerland, the interest rate on banks’ marginal deposit facility at the central bank corresponds to our reserve rate. For details on the liquidity management system in Denmark, see Jørgensen, A. and Lars Risbjerg (2012): “Negative interest rates”, Monetary Review, 3rd Quarter 2012, Part 1, Danmarks Nationalbank. 7  The policy rate in the euro area is the refinancing rate, which is the minimum bid rate in the ECB’s weekly market operations. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  Excess reserves have increased substantially since the ECB started to provide banks with long-term loans and implemented quantitative easing. This is illustrated by the grey area in the chart. As a result, the overnight interbank rate has remained below the policy rate and just above the reserve rate, as shown in the chart. Negative rates have their limitations In the euro area and Sweden, the aim of unconventional monetary policy has been to bring inflation up towards the inflation target. Negative rates – in combination with asset purchases – are intended to boost activity and prevent low inflation from becoming entrenched. The effects can be transmitted via both lower bank interest rates and a weaker exchange rate. In other words, negative money market rates operate through the usual channels.
The euro area The prolonged sluggishness of the euro area economy continues, with output growth of below 2% for the fourth year running. In the first half of 2004 a more dynamic trajectory was discernible, in line with the greater robustness of the world economy, presaging the onset of a firmer expansionary phase. Activity has since weakened notably, however, and the first half of the current year has seen no improvement. Nonetheless, the conditions remain in place to allow the rate of expansion of GDP to increase gradually in the coming quarters, spurred by the continuation of relatively expansionary financial conditions and by the momentum of the international situation. Dearer oil and the appreciation of the euro have been holding back growth in the euro area for some time, and these factors intensified in 2004. However, it would be wrong to attribute the protracted period of low growth seen in the euro area to these factors. The euro area has in fact benefited in recent years from a relatively sharp expansion of its export markets, allowing it largely to offset the negative effects of the euro’s appreciation. Moreover, the rise in the euro, along with progress in reducing oil dependency, has softened the adverse consequences of higher oil prices. At the root of the European economy’s persistent weakness are, instead, the factors that hamper the sustained buoyancy of domestic spending and which heighten its sensitivity to external developments.

The challenges facing the European economy are considerable and set in an institutional context that has been disrupted by the “no” votes in the recently held French and Dutch referendums on the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty. The difficulties of entrenching growth that is sufficient and consistent with the European model and with the general public’s expectations may have influenced the disappointing results returned by these referendums. But this is something which is closely related to the difficulties at the national level in pushing through the necessary reforms and explaining them convincingly. The significance and implications of these results should not be underestimated. But they need not check European integration. Rather, they should act as a spur to further integration by means of European and national policies that respond to the demands of the public. In any event, European integration has not been a linear process in the past and I am fully confident that the European Union will be capable of overcoming these difficulties just as it always has when obstacles have stood in its way. On the plus side in the current circumstances is the fact that it has a currency shared by a large number of countries and a federally organised central bank which are a focal point of stability and exemplify Europeans’ ability to embark on and co-ordinate ambitious undertakings that contribute effectively to the collective well-being.
The latest programme – introduced and promoted by Prime Minister Abe – included among its three pillars an ambitious monetary expansion plan which, with official interest rates close to zero, is being implemented through growth of the monetary base. Although the latest data show an incipient return to positive rates of growth and inflation, evidently monetary policy in Japan is still far removed from the threshold marking not only a change of cycle, but also a move towards a less expansionary stance, in contrast to the cases of the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England. The monetary policy of the European Central Bank The specific characteristics of current euro area monetary circumstances stem from the complexity and depth of the crisis and the slow pace at which the euro area is emerging from 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  the crisis in comparison with other areas. Following the negative data of 2012 and 2013, the projections published by the ECB last June indicate that the euro area will not recoup precrisis levels of GDP until the end of next year. However, the recovery in employment in the euro area as a whole will not be completed in 2015. Since end-2011 the inflation rate has moved on a declining trend. It stands at an all-time low and the available projections indicate that it will remain, for the foreseeable time horizon, far from the benchmark of 2% which, in the medium term, marks the price stability target governing the ECB’s actions.

Joseph Yam: East Asian financial markets - the next frontier Welcoming remarks by Mr Joseph Yam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, at the conference on "East Asian Financial Markets - The Next Frontier", Hong Kong, 22 June 2006. *  *  *  Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great pleasure for me to welcome you to this conference on "East Asian Financial Markets - The Next Frontier". It is also an honour for the Hong Kong Monetary Authority to be co-hosting this event with the World Bank to discuss the findings of its latest Regional Financial Sector Flagship Study and the future development of the financial markets in Asia. The World Bank has been very supportive of economic development in the region and I particularly welcome the focus in its recent work on financial markets. Here in Asia, considerable efforts have been made at the individual economy and regional levels to further develop our financial markets. Much remains to be done, however, so it is with great anticipation that I look forward to the discussions, conclusions, and recommendations that will emerge during the coming two days. The title of the conference, "East Asian Financial Markets - The Next Frontier" is, I believe, very fitting. Each part of it carries an important message. The focus on financial markets reminds us that a wellfunctioning financial system is increasingly important for economic development.