samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
And one segment where this may have a greater impact, and specifically alter the bankcustomer relationship, is that of payment services. Bank customers and technology: the payment services segment. Allow me to illustrate the changes emerging in this segment with a brief reference to the new Directive on payment services, known as PSD2, as I previously mentioned. 4/8  One of the most notable aspects of this Directive is that it definitively institutionalises the activity of the so-called third-party service providers, or TPP. The Directive acknowledges the right of holders of a payment account to expressly authorise a third-party entity, provided it is duly authorised, to order payments on their behalf and/or to consult certain information associated with this account. In the first instance, we are talking about what are known as “payment initiation service providers”, while in the second case they are called “account information service providers”. The latter offer users the possibility of gaining consolidated knowledge of the situation of the payment accounts the users have with different entities, thereby helping them with their financial planning. Conversely, payment initiation services arise as an alternative to the use of cards, for the payment of purchases made in e-commerce environments. They are consequently characterised by providing payment beneficiaries with the security that payment has been initiated correctly, acting as a spur for expediting the delivery of the good or service.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in our banking community for maintaining services to your customers during these extraordinary times. The speed and agility you have demonstrated in delivering the relief measures has been particularly impressive. The resilience and resourcefulness of our banking sector put us in a strong position to handle the challenges that lie ahead. 5. Despite the ongoing geopolitical tensions, I have no doubt that Hong Kong will continue to perform its special role as an international financial centre. China remains the engine of global economic growth and the biggest provider of savings. The Mainland’s opening of its financial sector continues to offer new opportunities for the rest of the world, and Hong Kong is at the nexus of it all. While our banks must continue to stay resilient against the many challenges of our times, they also need to prepare themselves for new opportunities emerging from the transformations now unfolding in our region. 6. In today’s conference we are invited to look beyond our present difficulties, to envision a ‘Brave New World of Banking’ in an age of ‘Innovation and Transformation’. I congratulate HKIB on choosing such a forward-looking topic – one to which I have also been giving a great deal of thought. Taking up this theme, I will discuss three big transformations that are already happening, and talk about how the industry and how we at the HKMA are responding to them.
Distinguished audience, To sum up, what can a central bank do to modernise the society in an emerging economy such as that of Moldova? Lots of good things, within the confines of the law and of its mandate. Nothing good beyond its mandate. Effective inter-institutional cooperation, within an optimum functional architecture, is a formula for successfully overcoming moments of crisis, including the situation generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. I therefore reiterate, with all conviction, the importance of preserving the independence of central banks and taking on their primary objective in full responsibility. This objective is the key element of macro-financial stability, to which also adds the symbolic role of originator of the horizon of hope, so necessary nowadays in all of our countries. I am convinced that the works of this conference will be a good opportunity to reflect on the topical matter regarding the role of central banks and the importance of their independence. On behalf of the Romanian central bank and the NBR Board, I extend the best wishes to you and your colleagues in the distinguished institutions that you represent. Thank you for your attention! 3/3  BIS central bankers' speeches

Both opinions have high-profile advocates. As yet, we do not know who is closer to the truth and it will probably be some time until it will be possible to say with any great certainty. 9 The global level of interest rates will probably remain low for a long time Regardless of how the sluggish recovery from the financial crisis can best be explained, a central issue is that of how long the level of interest rates will be low. If the global interest rate were to start to rise fairly soon, this would increase scope for monetary policy – the problem would “solve itself”, so to say. However, empirical estimates suggest that the forces that pushed the global interest rate down will be relatively persistent and that the level of  9  One further hypothesis is that growth is being restrained by a decrease of productivity-enhancing innovations combined with various restraining forces (‘headwinds’) (see Gordon, 2102, 2015). Like secular stagnation, this is expected to affect the economy for a long time to come. However, unlike secular stagnation, there is no chronic deficit in the aggregate demand (no negative output gap), as it is the growth of potential output that is assumed to have slowed down. BIS central bankers’ speeches  7  interest rates will remain low for a fairly long time to come. 10 For example, Rachel and Smith (2015) estimate that the global real interest rate will be about or just below 1 per cent in the medium to long term.
In addition, strategically important markets, such as telecommunications and broadcasting media have been opened up to competition. It is especially important that Sweden had a broad base of users of various technical systems at an early stage. A broad base is essential for users and producers to gain a real exchange from working in the networks comprised by the new technology. Ericsson’s successful broadening of its operations from fixed to mobile telephony and Sweden’s rapid licensing of first NMT and then GSM gave Sweden one of the world’s broadest bases of mobile phone users. The subsidised provision of personal computers to employees also broadened the user base and gave Sweden the highest PC density in Europe. This of course facilitated the use of the internet and thus the general e-mail revolution in Swedish companies and homes. The combination of internet usage and the high density of mobile phones means that mobile internet, despite its slow start, has already come further here than in the USA. Slide 4 shows a summary of Sweden’s position in various technological, network-based systems. As the internet is still in a phase of development, these figures can primarily serve as indicators of future growth. 4.

Yet, this sector generates less than 20% of value added in the economy, while productivity of labour force employed in agriculture and their income per capital are half of other branches of the economy. In my view, the sustained and balanced development of the country clearly needs a higher attention to agriculture sector, for improving its production capacity coupled with the growing of rural area population’s welfare, and in turn promoting social equity. The agricultural sector faces many and complex problems of development. At a considerable degree, these problems are out the competence and expertise sphere of the Bank of Albania. However, I believe that the topic of our today’s discussion: support with funds and loans to the agricultural sector, deserves a higher attention by the banking system. Currently, agricultural sector benefits only 1.7% of the funding that banks provide to private business. This ratio has not change over the last decade, despite the novelties that banking system has offered to lending market, while it remains far from the real needs of this sector. Specific lending issues to agricultural sector have been identified, from some time now, but a part of them are yet relevant. Nevertheless, I think that some of them are towards addressing, while the other obstacles should become part of a critical assessment and their solution should be an integral part of our next work agenda.
Similarly, a comprehensive review of the Spanish tax system is needed to ensure that the different taxes meet their goals in the most efficient and effective manner possible. A comparison between the Spanish tax structure and the European average reveals a smaller proportion of indirect tax revenue in Spain, with lower effective taxation on consumption  18  On average, in the period 2015-2019, public expenditure on education and public investment in Spain stood at 4% and 2.9% of GDP, respectively, 0.9 pp and 1.5 pp less than in the EU. 19  and a significant revenue gap in terms of green taxation. The White Paper for the Reform of the Tax System, published in March, presents a diagnosis of the Spanish tax system. The demographic trends that are expected over the coming years, particularly the spike in the dependency ratio,19 will place the pension system under considerable pressure. The reforms approved in 2011 and 2013 significantly enhanced the financial sustainability of the pension system in the medium term. However, should the pension system’s revenue not increase, the adjustment would be made chiefly by reducing the benefit rate.20 The first part of a new pension system reform was approved towards the end of last year. Among other measures, this reform indexed pensions to inflation and removed the sustainability factor. According to AIReF projections and the European Commission’s Ageing Report, the two measures mean that pension expenditure will grow by between 4.1 pp and 4.3 pp of GDP in the period 2019 to 2050.

It is successful as we copy the institutional setup of the central banks of the developed countries, where the independence of central banking is recognized as one of the main preconditions for efficient conduct of the monetary policy and the exchange rate. Fortunately, political institutions in the country understood that, too, and therefore it is general assessment that today NBRM enjoys a significant level of independence, both formal and actual. However, it is most important that we are aware where and how much we lag behind the central banks of developed countries, how much we must work in order to reduce the gap and where we should arrive at. We should improve a number of contemporary analytical and research models and practices. We should expand our knowledge in the area of economic modeling and econometric techniques. As a matter of fact, in a month or two we start with regular training of the NBRM employees in this area, in a systematic and permanent manner. We are already preparing for outlining and implementing other monetary strategies, as it is imposed by the processes of globalization and integration of markets, the forthcoming very close full liberalization of the capital account, justifiably anticipated larger inflows of capital, which create new environment for our economy, together with the risks from instability and speculative pressures.
So we had to take immediate action to stop certain FPS functions, to allow time for the e-wallet operators and banks to enhance their security measures. 12. This was a setback to a new system trying to gain acceptance and trust from the public – and this unpleasant surprise came along. But thanks to the cooperation of banks and ewallet operators, we found the cause of the problem quickly and fixed it. We also communicated with the public – quickly and openly – in order to rebuild confidence in the FPS. 13. Understandably, this led to a brief drop in FPS usage when the news first came out. But thanks to the quick fix and transparent communication, we saw customer confidence bouncing back quickly and strongly. Since then, we have seen strong growth in the number of FPS registrations. Right now, there are over 3.6 million registrations out of a population of just over 7 million. The penetration rate of our FPS is likely among the highest in the world. Transaction volume has been growing by nearly 10% per month, and last month there was an average of more than 140,000 transactions per day. 14. In all fields of innovation, many good ideas do not catch on at first. This is going to be the case with Fintech. Experience tells us that every good technological innovation needs good, and probably flexible, execution in order to win trust and acceptance. Importance of a change agent 15. This brings me to my second point, which is change management.

Those observations and insights have brought to the fore the importance of leadership competencies in articulating the combination of essential skills, attributes and behaviours required by leaders for the successful and effective performance on the job. It is our hope that the ICLIF Leadership Competency Model will be a constant source of reference, inspiration and impetus to our leaders in building a dynamic organizational culture and in meeting future challenges. In order to better position ourselves in this more challenging environment, one that is more globalised, more integrated, more competitive and more complex, we need to play a more pro-active role in strengthening our own organizations, we need to prepare ourselves for difficult periods, we need to also contribute towards the development of the environment in which we operate, the markets and the  2  BIS Review 72/2004  financial infrastructure and finally and importantly we also need to invest in people, in their skills, to enhance our organisational capacity to bring about institutional development so as to enhance our respective organizational effectiveness. Leadership is an integral part of this process. Our investment in ICLIF hopes in some part to contribute to achieving these goals. Alumni members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it is now my privilege and pleasure to officially launch ICLIF Alumni Association and ICLIF Leadership Competency Model. BIS Review 72/2004  3
The normalization process for monetary policy started in June with a 50 basis point hike and continued the following four months at the same speed. Between October and December the normalization pace was slowed down to 25 basis points. In January the Monetary Policy Rate was kept unchanged, but the Board has stated that it will be necessary to continue to reduce the monetary policy stimulus in the coming months. But, important risks persist on this scenario. As I mentioned at the beginning of my presentation, the risks in the external scenario are high, especially due to the fact that global recovery has been imbalanced between developed and emerging economies, with high commodity prices, low interest rates, a sluggish recovery of developed economies and a depreciated US dollar. Relevant risks include escalating financial tensions in Europe, persistent high unemployment rates in developed economies and sharper adjustments in some emerging economies that are facing inflationary pressures. Considering this risks and the fact that the real exchange rate had appreciated significantly, the Board of the Central  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  Bank decided, on January 3rd, to start a program of foreign currency purchases aimed at strengthening its international liquidity position. Thus, the Central Bank will hoard additional international reserves amounting to $ billion over the year 2011, via periodic purchases of foreign currency until the end of December of 2011.

Depending on its design, such a rule book would either be permanently outdated and incomplete, because legislators cannot keep up with the rapid pace of innovation within the financial sector with meticulous regulation, or would have to regulate so rigidly that it would impose excessive restrictions on the functioning of the financial system. As is often the case, the most sensible option is in the middle. We need regulation based on principles which adapts to changes in banking and we need a supervisory authority that is capable taking action. Allow me to elaborate. •  Good regulations must be adaptable. They must be just as applicable to different business models as they are to different sizes of institution – they must fit large and small institutions alike. Good regulations must adapt to changing circumstances without legislators having continually to improve on them. Accordingly, the rules must provide room for discretion in individual cases. •  Good regulations must, however, also ensure a minimum level of planning and legal certainty for banks; that is the only way in which banks operate properly and provide their financial services over the long term. This holds particularly true of Europe, where banks play a greater role in financing the real economy than the capital markets.
And yet, in many parts of the world, monetary policies remain somehow permissive. The reason for this paradox can be found in the dilemma faced by many countries, which maintain some link between their currencies and the US dollar, in order to prevent an unwanted appreciation of their exchange rate. However, according to Mundell’s  BIS Review 63/2008  1  incompatibility triangle, a country cannot tie its currency to another currency and simultaneously conduct an independent monetary policy, when capital flows freely between countries. As a consequence, many emerging economies are currently led to partially "import" the US monetary policy although their situation and position in the economic cycle are fundamentally different. This situation could be very unstable and dangerous. First, real exchange rate appreciation – which is bound to occur anyway – takes place through increased inflation rather than nominal exchange rate appreciation. Indeed, inflation in many emerging countries is currently accelerating. Second, at the world level, we might be piling up inflationary pressures, which could develop further in 2009-10. There is an explosive mix of rising commodity prices and permissive monetary policies, which could create an ongoing spiral, and, if it were allowed to develop, would specially hurt the poor countries, most of which are net food importers. It is our common and joint responsibility to do everything in our power to avoid such an outcome. Let me now turn to another major challenge: the impact of financial innovation on the conduct of monetary policy.

Another effect of financial innovation is thus to create asymmetries in the reaction of the economy to monetary policy: for example, the slow build-up of bubbles during periods of monetary easing followed by an abrupt retrenchment when monetary policy tightens. Note that there is currently a debate as to whether this inherent procyclicality of financial systems is amplified by our accounting and prudential regimes. Fourth, it may be that modern financial innovation creates new discontinuities in the financial system and dynamics. When conditions are less benign than usual, the transmission process along the interest rate curve becomes non-linear: a striking feature of this summer’s events was the surge in the short-term money market. Wider and variable spreads between term funding rates (of which many bank loans are priced off) and policy rates may reduce the efficiency of interest rate adjustments when needed. Innovation also reinforces the mechanism of the "financial accelerator", through which the level of asset prices influences credit distribution (through collateral values and, now, its impact on banks tier one ratio), then the real economy; and, in return, the real economy impacts asset prices and values. This spiral can go upwards, or, as we see now, downwards. Overall, I believe that central banks have coped well with these challenges over the past ten months. The monetary policy response has differed across industrialised countries, as warranted by the differences in economic situations and outlooks.
The recently created instrument for convergence and competitiveness, while a step in the right direction, lacks stabilisation capacity. It does not incorporate some of the potentially most effective elements, such as European unemployment insurance and the use of European funds to mitigate the impact of specific shocks on certain economies. The lack of effective macroeconomic policy coordination mechanisms in the euro area is exacerbated when monetary policy comes up against its effective interest rate limits. As I said earlier, this circumstance might become more frequent in the future if we move into a more persistent setting of low rates. Moreover, it is in this setting that the effectiveness of fiscal policy may prove greater.13 There is thus a pressing need to create some type of common cyclical insurance mechanism in the euro area. This instrument would help automatically absorb adverse shocks at the aggregate level (symmetric) or idiosyncratic shocks in certain countries (asymmetric). Its dual aim would be to smooth effects in individual countries and safeguard the stability of the euro area as a whole. Some recent analyses suggest that it would be possible to design a mechanism which, without committing major funds (fewer than the current European budget) and without it entailing permanent cross-State transfers, would provide for a similar stabilisation capacity to that achieved with the US transfer system.14 The role of macroprudential policy We should not forget the role that so-called “macroprudential policy” can and should play.

And the continuing efforts of the banking sector also represent challenges of their own: banks filed over 68,000 or 90% of the suspicious transaction reports (STRs) with the JFIU in a year. And that is just the STRs: we all know what that means in terms of the massive amount of data that banks are monitoring, screening and analysing on an ongoing basis. 5. The more difficult part of the answer to my question therefore means looking forward and requires vision and – dare I say it – aspiration – because we know that FATF evaluations represent a snap shot. There are always new and emerging risks, to which the HKMA and banks have stayed vigilant and agile; criminals are also exploiting new technology and innovations to create terrible harm to consumers and the integrity of the financial system. Banks that play a frontline role in combating that harm, not only by applying preventive measures when on-boarding customers, but increasingly through the value of information they are able to extract and feed into the AML/CFT eco-system and the close cooperation with the LEAs and the HKMA in converting STRs and intelligence into actions like arrests and asset recovery. 6. This is the challenge we face so we’ve taken a step back from the FATF evaluation report and asked ourselves some potent questions: is our system working as well as we would like it to be? Are the supervisory tools and techniques we have been using for years still fit-forpurpose? 7.