samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
And late last year, the HKMA hosted our first AML/CFT Regtech Forum with the aim of generating more conversation and traction on Regtech usage in that particular area. White Paper on Regtech 14. The White Paper that we are launching today moves forward the conversation on Regtech even further. It sets out a number of Regtech initiatives that we will undertake in the coming 18 months. 15. Next I would use a few slides to take you through the concept behind our White Paper as well as to provide a quick overview of its contents. 16. Despite the Covid-19 disruptions, we have been working very hard in the past few months on a plan to better promote the adoption of Regtech in Hong Kong. The first phase of the plan has now led to the formulation of this White Paper. 17. Conceptually, we can think of the White Paper as a useful MAP for users: MAP meaning three key elements – M for Monitor, A for Assess, and P for Plan. 18. What exactly do we mean by that? Again, “M” is for Monitor – it involves understanding the current and evolving Regtech landscape. “A” stands for Assess – it involves analysing existing practices and risks associated with Regtech. And “P” is for Plan – it involves putting our insights into practice by developing practical steps for the future. 19.

Inflation averaged 2.6 percent over the past decade, or about half of the 5.1 percent average rate during the 1990s prior to the  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Asian Crisis1. Meanwhile, our unemployment rate has been low at around 1 percent. The banking sector, severely affected by the 1997 crisis, has been safe and sound, minimally affected by the global financial crisis ten years later as a result of strengthened risk management and governance. Despite ongoing net capital inflows into Thailand, there appears no sign of asset price bubble while the degrees of leverage in the corporate and household sector are still low. Overall, I believe that the Thai economic stability has strengthened continuously. This achievement has been attributable to sound fiscal and monetary policy, together with appropriate and market-friendly regulations, aimed at keeping the economy operating close to its potential. Suffice it to say that the Bank of Thailand has fulfilled our responsibility to help achieve the economic stability. Under the inflation-targeting framework, the policy interest rate is the main instrument used to influence saving and spending in the economy so that demand matches potential supply. This economic balance has, in turn, produced a low and stable inflation environment necessary for the sustainable growth. In addition to the interest rate tool, the central bank also has regulatory tools to prevent undesirable accumulation of financial imbalances. Indeed, the so-called “macro-prudential policy” has been used as a complementary policy tool to the interest rate policy long before the sub-prime crisis.
5 What this means in more concrete terms, is that central banks should start giving out money to individual households, to the treasury, or that they should subsidise the private business sector, tasks which would usually fall to fiscal policy rather than monetary policy. To determine whether it is a good idea for central banks to step into the field of fiscal policy, we need to clarify the difference between the government’s and the central bank's finances. Is there a difference between money issued by the central bank and bonds issued by the government? Is there a difference between the central bank’s and the government’s access to liquid funds? Although both central bank money and government bonds are a form of claim on the same counterpart in the same currency, there are nevertheless some differences that in certain situations can be important. The first difference concerns liquidity. Central banks create liquidity on their own by issuing banknotes or by increasing the commercial banks’ balances in their central bank accounts. A central bank can thus always “pay” if it wants to. However, in a country with an independent central bank, the government does not have access to a credit line that can be extended freely. To obtain access to more liquidity, the government must instead issue bonds and sell them on a market. The second difference concerns the exposure to credit risk when holding central bank money or government bonds.

It explains the strength of mortgage growth after the jump in house prices in the years around the millennium. It accounts for the drop in mortgage growth almost to zero after the crisis, largely as the result of a sharp fall in the flow of transactions. It also suggests that, after a long period of relatively subdued growth in the purchase price of housing – since 2004 the average rate of increase has been 3% a year – we can expect the same for mortgage debt over the next few years. I say “pre-determined” but there are obviously risks to any such forecast. One is higher loan-to-value ratios on new mortgages (LTVs), a sign of looser supply. In the late 1980s boom the median LTV averaged over 85%, even as prices rose very rapidly (Chart 11). LTVs have been much lower since the early 2000s and, as far as the future is concerned, I’d note that, in 2014, the FPC put in place restrictions on the share of new mortgage lending banks could make at high loan-to-income (LTI) ratios. Against this backdrop, the chances of any material rise in the average LTV on new mortgages are low.
Joseph Yam: The case for an Asian Bond Market Opening address by Mr Joseph Yam, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, at the Asia-Pacific Bond Market Congress: A New Maturity, Hong Kong, 8-9 July 2004. *  *  *  I am honoured to be invited to give the opening address at this congress. The strong attendance at this event, and the quality of the sessions lined up, are, I think, an indication of the growing recognition of the importance of bond market development in this region. I am delighted that Hong Kong has been chosen for the venue. The congress is well timed, since only yesterday the Hong Kong SAR Government launched its $ billion bond issue. I extend a warm welcome to those of you who are visiting Hong Kong: I hope you will be able to stay on for a few days and enjoy the city over the weekend. The title of the congress “A New Maturity”, apart from the mild and allowable pun, makes a useful comment on the state of the bond market in Asia. Whether “maturity” is quite the right word is a matter of debate, and I note that the title of the panel discussion later this morning adds a question mark to the word. However we might describe it, there is no doubt about the progress that has been made in the growth of domestic bond markets in the region over the past few years.

Ravi Menon: Bending the curve of nature loss Keynote remarks by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Chair of the Network for Greening the Financial System, at the COP15 Finance and Biodiversity Day, Montreal, 14 December 2022. *** Ladies and gentlemen, I am honoured and delighted to be able to address you on this important occasion of COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The world is getting painfully acquainted with the impending climate crisis. There are promising efforts at mitigating this crisis, though far from what is necessary to avert disaster. But the planet faces a second crisis –– nature and biodiversity loss. The nature crisis is no less threatening than the climate crisis. But it is much less appreciated and much less is being done to mitigate it. We assiduously measure and seek to grow our physical and human capital. We speak of the importance of social and political capital. But we fail to appreciate let alone measure natural capital – the world's stock of natural resources, comprising soils, air, water, plants, animals, and minerals. These are assets that sustain our food supplies, underpin our economy and society, and enable human life. We are collectively depleting our natural capital and degrading the ecosystems that support it. We are consuming more resources than the Earth can produce in a year. At current rates of consumption, we use up 1.6 Earths' worth of resources. By 2050, our annual resource use will rise to 2 Earths' worth.
The fairly low level of growth in employment, as measured by the number of employed, must be seen in the light of the sharp decline in sickness absence through 2004 after rising for several years. The decrease in sickness absence has increased companies’ supply of  2  BIS Review 18/2005  labour and reduced the need for new employees. Measured in person-hours worked, employment growth was solid last year. Person-hours worked increased by 2.2 per cent from 2003 to 2004. A corollary to the increase in the number of person-hours worked is partly reduced sickness absence and partly three more working days in 2004 compared with 2003. An increase in available person-hours and increased competition and rationalisation in many sectors led to higher-than-normal growth in potential output last year. The economy has therefore been able to grow a fairly rapidly for a period without the emergence of bottlenecks in the labour market. In the business tendency survey, manufacturing industry reported higher output volumes and capacity utilisation. Average capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector is now close to its historical average. Norges Bank’s regional network reports that nearly half of the contacts would have some or substantial problems in increasing production in excess of planned levels. This may indicate approximate balance between supply and demand in the economy, and that capacity utilisation is about normal. A normal level of capacity utilisation is consistent with an output gap – the percentage deviation between actual and potential output - that is now close to zero.

Growth in demand and output is expected to remain high in the near term. Unemployment may fall somewhat more quickly than has been the case over the past year. The output gap is expected to be positive in 2005. Higher demand for companies’ goods provides scope for increasing prices. Experience shows that inflation is directly influenced by the level of capacity utilisation in the Norwegian economy. Some of the rise in prices for domestically produced goods and services can be attributed to higher margins in the business sector. The effects of the interest rate decline on demand, output and employment have been pronounced. It has taken time for inflation to pick up. This partly reflects low external interest rates and high oil prices, which have moderated the impact on the krone exchange rate. Higher imports from low-cost countries, competition and improved efficiency in Norwegian production have also kept inflation at a low level. Initially, it was the fall in prices for imported consumer goods that pushed down underlying inflation. After a period, the rise in prices for domestically produced goods and services also decelerated. This was due in particular to increased competition in some goods and service markets. At the same time, wage growth slowed as a result of lower capacity utilisation in the economy. A slower rise in house rents also contributed. Inflation measured by the CPI-ATE reached its lowest level in the first months of 2004. Inflation remained at less than ½ per cent until after the summer before picking up in autumn.
This will make the UK financial system safer. And we are already practicing what we preach. As a home supervisor for UK CCPs throughout the recent stress events I mentioned earlier, cooperation with host authorities has always been at the front of our mind. We held 10 colleges over the past two years. Where necessary, we shared daily updates on developments we were seeing. Together – and working with all of you in industry, I hope that global CCP regulators can find ways to begin to address the lessons I have just laid out: tackling the side effects without sacrificing the cure; dealing with situations in which history is not a good guide to the future; and understanding the structural factors that can lead to big price moves. Addressing the issues we have seen in March 2020 and again in 2022 is both urgent and important. Cooperation will give us a strong foundation on which to enhance the crucial role CCPs play in supporting global financial stability as we address vulnerabilities that have become evident in recent stress. I am grateful to Sarah Crowley, Chandima Wijerathna, Dan Wright, Don Payagala, Michael Wood, Pavel Chichkanov and Shriya Mrug for their help in preparing these remarks. I am also grateful to  Page 7  Jon Cunliffe, Andrew Hauser, David Bailey, Nathanael Benjamin, Sarah Breeden, Andrea Rosen, Imane Bakkar, Martin Arrowsmith, Simon Morley, Justin Jacobs, Barry King and Jaynika Patel for their helpful comments. 1.

The FTSE All-Share index fell over 10% on 12 March, the largest one-day fall since 1987. Other markets also saw shocks beyond or close to the largest in history. 2. FSB (2017) Report on effectiveness of derivatives reforms  . 3. By March 2020, 60% of credit default swaps were cleared, and 80% of interest rate contracts, up from about 10% and 40% respectively in 2008. 4. Review of margining practices (bis.org) 5. From Lender of Last Resort to Market Maker of Last Resort via the dash for cash: why central banks need new tools for dealing with market dysfunction (bankofengland.co.uk) 6. VM calls were six times larger compared to normal levels on 1 March 2022 £ compared to a five-fold increase on 18 March 2020 £ VM calls at the most affected clearing services were as high as 35 times normal levels (LME Base). 7. Total IM requirements of UK CCPs peaked at around 30% higher relative to their pre-stress levels in Q1 2020. The peak aggregate increase in Q1 2022 was 13% (relative to 1 February 2022). 8. Review of margining practices (bis.org) 9. Joint statement from UK Financial Regulation Authorities on London Metal Exchange and LME Clear | Bank of England 10. This is different to climate change, where it is possible to model how the future will be different to the past and this is informing the pricing of risk today – but there is no obvious way to identify future market shocks and volatility robustly. 11.
Measures of market volatility and correlation are two plausible metrics. 9 Chart 9 plots the volatility of, and correlation between, components of the S&P 500 since 1990. In general, the  6  Stoll (1978). 7  Glosten and Milgrom (1985). 8  This term has its origins in work by Diane Vaughan on NASA’s decision-making in the run-up to the space shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, where repeated oversight of small problems culminated in a big problem (Vaughan (1996)). It has since been found in a much broader range of phenomena, where small cognitive biases have had disastrous physical consequences (Cliff (2010), Harford (2011)). 9  See also Brogaard (2010) and Zhang (2010). BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  relationship between volatility and correlation is positive. Higher volatility increases the degree of co-movement between stocks. Now consider how this volatility/correlation nexus has changed. This can be seen from the difference between the mass of blue dots (covering the period 1990 to 2004) and red dots (covering the period 2005 to 2010) in Chart 9. Two things have happened since 2005, coincident with the emergence of trading platform fragmentation and HFT. First, both volatility and correlation have been somewhat higher. Volatility is around 10 percentage points higher than in the earlier sample, while correlation is around 8 percentage points higher. Second, the slope of the volatility / correlation curve is steeper. Any rise in volatility now has a more pronounced cross-market effect than in the past.

As of today, the lower limit for trade execution appears to be around 10 micro-seconds. This means it would in principle be possible to execute around 40,000 back-to-back trades in the blink of an eye. If supermarkets ran HFT programmes, the average household could complete its shopping for a lifetime in under a second. Imagine. It is clear from these trends that trading technologists are involved in an arms race. And it is far from over. The new trading frontier is nano-seconds – billionths of a second. And the twinkle in technologists’ (unblinking) eye is pico-seconds – trillionths of a second. HFT firms  3  Mackenzie (2011) provides a brilliant recent account of the role of HFT, in particular in the context of the Flash Crash. HFT is a sub-set of a broader class of algorithmic trading strategies. See also Aldridge (2010). BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  talk of a “race to zero”. This is the promised land of zero “latency” where trading converges on its natural (Planck’s) limit, the speed of light. 4 The race to zero seems like a million miles from the European coffee shop conversations of the 17th century and the noisy trading floors of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The dawn of electronic trading coincided with the dusk for floor trading. Physical proximity lost its allure. As soon as computers processed faster than traders talked, the time was up for human interactions on physical exchanges. Trading became virtual, distance a dinosaur. Or so it seemed.
Ardo Hansson: Availability of banking services in Estonia Answer by Mr Ardo Hansson, Governor of the Bank of Estonia (Eesti Pank), before the Riigikogu (the unicameral Parliament of Estonia), Tallinn, 22 September 2014. *  *  *  Interpellations raised by members of the Riigikogu concerning the accessibility of banking services 1. Why has Eesti Pank not set minimum requirements for the provision of cash and payment services in a decree alongside the technical requirements, in the context of the Emergency Act? 2. What solutions has Eesti Pank discussed for ensuring the equal accessibility of cash and payment services across Estonia? The principal position of Eesti Pank Banking services are important and they need to be accessible to people and companies across Estonia. It is reasonable for services to be provided efficiently and flexibly. I understand that people are worried about the accessibility of banking services across Estonia. Eesti Pank does not prefer any one means of payment over any other. Cash is an official means of payment and so Eesti Pank believes that it should be available through flexible solutions everywhere in Estonia. Eesti Pank works every day to supply Estonian companies and people with cash. We provide a flexible cash service to the commercial banks, giving cash out and taking it in every working day, and in exceptional circumstances we can be even more flexible.

Young Members of Parliament whom I met were upbeat about India's future. Of course, India's growth trajectory will not be a straight line. Development across states will be uneven. Unlike China, power does not rest with one political party. The intricacies of coalition politics mean that time, patience, skill and political bargaining will be needed to balance different interests, and forge a national consensus on reforms. Investors have cited inadequate infrastructure, rigid regulations and bureaucracy as some of the impediments to India's rapid growth. In addition, India cannot grow into a major economy on services alone. It will have to find ways to expand its manufacturing sector to create jobs for the large numbers of young people entering the labour market each year. India has decided to use Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to spearhead the growth of its manufacturing and export sectors. SEZs will create pockets of growth and prosperity. They will have a powerful demonstration effect on the rest of the economy. Foreign investors will find it easier and more attractive to locate their factories in an SEZ. Singapore and India have agreed to set up an SEZ in India and both sides are now working to implement it. China on the rise Let me now turn to China. I first visited China in 1971 to do business with them. It was during the height of the Cultural Revolution. I saw young Red Guards holding their study sessions in the open.
Imagine the developments following the World War II, when central banks widely accepted their transition from private to public ownership and when they realised that it was not only necessary but also imperative to cooperate, regardless of physical barriers. Imagine, for example, the president of the Federal Reserve, who wasted three months to travel to Europe and two weeks to receive a letter from his homologues overseas. Actually, central banks have increased their efforts for a better and more fruitful cooperation. This is an undeniable truth. It has been a distinct feature of our work in recent years. Since my first public appearance as Governor of the Bank of Albania, I have pronounced my ambition for Bank of Albania’s legal and institutional transformation in line with the model of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). I am fully confident that the successful conclusion of the Twinning Project with the Banca d’Italia and Banque de France is another determinant step forward in the joint efforts to strengthen cooperation and elevate our work standards to European levels. Today, we see that, in a few months, a brilliant idea has turned into reality and the project has been crowned with success. The project objective was to improve our work practices in the field of banking supervision, statistics, payment systems, interbank market, coordination of EU integration process and financial literacy. More specifically, cooperation in banking supervision focused on implementing major reforms in areas such as consolidated supervision, approval of new regulations and staff training.

9  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  9