samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
23.05.2018  25th Financial Sector Meeting: Innovation, Transformation and Reputation Deloitte, Sociedad de Tasación and ABC Luis M. Linde Governor  Let me begin by thanking the organisers – Deloitte, Sociedad de Tasación and ABC – for their invitation to me to participate in this session of the 25th Financial Sector Meeting, which on this occasion turns on three ideas: innovation, transformation and reputation. In my opinion, these three concepts accurately encapsulate the main challenges currently faced by the financial sector. The new technologies are enabling financial institutions to transform their systems and their business models, but this transformation should not lead us to forget that the keystone of any market, and all the more so financial markets, is customer confidence. The financial sector is faced with a singularly complex setting and this conference provides an opportunity to confer with institutions’ key decision-makers on the different ways in which changes are being addressed at this time of transformation, which will be crucial for the future of the industry. The new technologies, which have already significantly impacted various sectors, now have the potential also to substantially change the way in which financial services will be provided in the not-too-distant future. I would thus like to take this opportunity to offer my view on the opportunities and risks these new technologies pose.

Caleb M Fundanga: Strengthening the Zambian banking sector Address by Dr Caleb M Fundanga, Governor of the Bank of Zambia, at the Commissioning and Official Opening of Access Bank (Zambia) Ltd, Lusaka, 24 September 2008. *  *  *  • H.E, Acting President of Republic of Zambia, Mr. Rupiah Banda M.P; • Honourable Ministers; • H.E Nigerian High Commissioner to Zambia; • Access Bank Group Deputy Managing Director; • Access Bank Zambia Chairman; • Access Bank Zambia Managing Director; • Distinguished guests; • Ladies and Gentlemen. I am greatly honoured to be given this opportunity to make brief remarks at this formal commissioning and opening of Access Bank (Zambia) Ltd. I wish to extend a warm welcome to all of you gathered here today, particularly those who have travelled from outside the country. Your Excellency, Honourable Ministers, today’s event is a crowning moment and demonstrates the fruits of the economic reforms that the Government has continued to implement in the financial sector in particular and the economy in general. Indeed it is a landmark achievement in the Government’s concerted efforts aimed at attracting foreign investors. It is also gratifying to note that Access Bank Zambia Limited is the first bank to be registered in the country since 1999. I am also happy to inform you, Ladies and Gentlemen, that the Bank of Zambia is currently reviewing other applications for banking licenses. In this regard, we expect a few more banks to be registered in the near future.
Det framtidige omfanget av petroleumsvirksomheten på norsk sokkel” [The future of petroleum activity. The future scale of offshore petroleum activity in Norway]. BIS Review 145/2010  1  The Committee had limited confidence in the government’s ability to save: The Committee stated the following concerning a savings fund: “It is up to the political authorities to determine whether such a fund construction designed to avoid a future decline in income is realistic. The Committee chooses not to build on such an assumption.” The notion of a sovereign oil fund matured through the 1980s. The government, under the premiership of Kåre Willoch, called for the establishment of such a fund in the Long-Term Programme presented in spring 1986, and the Act on the Government Petroleum Fund was passed in 1990. The main rules are: First: The totality of government petroleum revenues is transferred to the Fund. Second: The Fund is integrated into central government budgets and accounts. The non-oil deficit is covered by an annual transfer from the Fund. The government cannot borrow to finance current expenditure as long as there is capital in the Fund. Third: The capital in the Fund can only be used for domestic spending via general budget transfers, and not for earmarked transfers. Fourth: The Fund’s capital must be invested abroad. When the Act was enforced, the Norwegian economy was in a deep downturn, with high unemployment and government budget deficits. Projections also indicated that offshore production would pass the peak in the early 1990s 5 .

François Villeroy de Galhau: Technological innovations in payments and beyond Opening speech by Mr François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, at the Bank of France and CNPS (French Payments Committee) conference "Technological innovations in payments and beyond", Paris, 6 January 2017. * * * Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to welcome you all to Paris, for this conference on technological innovations in payments and, more generally, in the financial system. Representatives from a wide range of stakeholders, from market to regulatory spheres, are here today and I have no doubt that this variety of backgrounds will make the discussions fruitful. Before leaving the floor to the speakers and panellists, I would like to share with you a few thoughts on three challenges raised by digitalisation, from the perspective of a central banker. 1. Technological innovations are opening up new opportunities for payments, which can provide benefits to the whole economy Payments are often viewed as a very technical and incidental activity, and sometimes even just as a matter of “plumbing”. And yet they are crucial for our economy and for central banks. For the Banque de France, payments are of the essence in all our three missions – what we call the “3 Ss”: monetary strategy, financial stability and economic services. First, monetary strategy: what is at stake with payments is the future of money.
These historical distributions can be compared with a normal curve calibrated to the same data. In each case, there is strong evidence of non-normality in the empirical distribution. Specifically, the tails of the historical distribution are often significantly higher than normality would imply. For real variables like GDP, around 18% of the data across the UK, US, Germany and Japan fall outside the ‘bell’ curve described by a best-fit normal distribution. For financial variables like equity prices, around 10% of that data fall outside the normal distribution. In both cases, there is evidence of out-sized dislocations in variables, which occur with far-higher frequency than normality would imply. This evidence is consistent with, if not proof of, complex system dynamics. Chart 6: Long-run distributions of economic and financial variables  UK House Prices: 1846-2015, Annual  Oil Prices: 1862-2015, Annual  M4 Credit Growth: 1881-2015, Annual  CPI inflation: 1662-2015, Annual  25  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/speeches/default.aspx  25  World GDP growth (across the UK, US,  UK GDP growth: 1701-2015, Annual  Germany, Japan): 1871-2015, Annual  UK wage growth: 1751-2015, Annual  Equity prices: 1709-2016, Monthly  Corporate bond spreads: 1854-2016, Monthly  Dollar-Sterling Exchange rate: 1791-2016, monthly  Source: Hills, Thomas and Dimsdale (2016); Bank calculations. Notes: For each empirical distribution f(x), a Gaussian fit to f(x) of the (𝑥−𝜇)2  form 𝑔(𝑥) = 𝐴exp (− ) is sought in which A, 𝜇 and 𝜎 are varied and optimised using the Levenberg–Marquardt non-linear least 2𝜎2 squares fitting algorithm.

Note that to achieve the best fit to the empirical data, the fitted distributions do not integrate to unity. 26  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/Pages/speeches/default.aspx  26  Real-World Applications of Agent-Based Models  Given that ABMs potentially better match the moments of real-world data, at least in some situations and in some markets, and given their seeming success in other disciplines, the Bank of England has recently made an investment in them as part of its One Bank Research Agenda (Bank of England (2015)). Let me briefly describe two pieces of Bank research which have drawn on ABMs in an attempt to better understand two markets and how policy might reshape dynamics in these markets. (a) The UK Housing Market  The housing market has been one of the primary sources of financial stress in a great many countries (Jorda, Schulerick and Taylor (2014)). Not coincidentally, this market has also been characterised by pronounced cyclical swings. Chart 7 runs a filter through UK house price inflation in the period since 1896. It exhibits clear cyclicality, with peak-to-trough variation often of around 20 percentage points. Mortgage lending exhibits a similar cyclicality. House prices, like other asset prices, also exhibit out-sized booms and busts. Chart 6  Chart 7: Long-run UK house price growth 1846 to 2015  plots the distribution of UK house price growth  Percent year on year  since 1846.
It evaluates Malta's suitability and readiness on the basis of a set of economic criteria which correspond to those which the EU will apply when assessing Malta's eligibility. As is the case with ERM II, the timing of entry in the euro area will also have to be agreed in a multilateral setting, based on an assessment which is conducted periodically by the European Commission and the ECB, subsequently published in the form a Convergence Report. It is, therefore, unimaginable that Malta's entry in the euro area would be endorsed unless the EU institutions and the Member States are confident that Malta genuinely meets all the criteria and has achieved the necessary convergence commensurate with a smooth participation in EMU and with its ability to derive the expected benefits. Indeed, prior to the assessment that was conducted by the EU Commission earlier this year, another had already taken place in mid-2004. At that time, the Maltese authorities told the Commission that, given the circumstances prevailing then, it would have been premature to embark on ERM II. We suggested to them at the time it would be prudent to wait until the fiscal outcome for 2004 became known, that is early in 2005. This cautious approach was appreciated by the Commission and by the president of the ECB.

The apparent strength in U.S. productivity growth, our greater overall flexibility as an economy and the resilience of our financial system puts us in a stronger position to deal with the challenges in the transition ahead. But we face a number of difficult long-term challenges as a nation—in our fiscal position, in how well we equip our citizens to prosper in a more competitive world and in our ability to sustain political support for the policies, including our relatively open trade policy, that have been an important source of the improvement in U.S. prosperity. Our external imbalances make it more important that we invest in meeting those challenges. Thank you. 3/3
REGULATION Conducive to Innovation Let me start with a couple of general principles underlying our approach to FinTech regulation. First, we believe regulation must not front-run innovation. Introducing regulation prematurely may stifle innovation and potentially derail the adoption of useful technology. But the regulator must run alongside innovation. It is important to keep pace with what is going on, assess what the risks might be, and continually evaluate whether it is necessary to regulate or leave things to evolve further. Second, we apply a materiality and proportionality test. This means regulation comes in only when the risk posed by the new technology becomes material or crosses a threshold. And the weight of regulation must be proportionate to the risk posed. Third, we focus on the balance of risks posed by new technologies or solutions. Many technologies mitigate existing risks but may create new ones. The regulatory approach must seek to incentivise the risk mitigation aspects while restraining the new risks. Let me illustrate our approach to the regulation of FinTech with a few concrete initiatives: Activity-based regulation to keep pace with payments innovations. Specific guidelines to promote secure cloud computing. Enabling digital financial advice and insurance. A regulatory sandbox to test innovative ideas. Strengthening cyber security. 2/9  BIS central bankers' speeches  Activity-Based Regulation for Payments Some of the most visible FinTech innovations are taking place in the payments space. They are making payments cheaper, faster, better – delighting consumers and giving the banks a run for their money.

The launching of these indices marks yet another milestone in the development of the Malaysian capital market. As you are well aware, credible and transparent indices are very significant market infrastructure to raise the awareness and interest of investors. This will bode well for our aspiration to broaden and deepen the bond market in Malaysia. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to remind you that both the Day One and Day Two programs promise to be eventful. I know the very conducive environment for shopping at the Kuala Lumpur City Center or KLCC can be very tempting for some of us. But please resist that temptation for a while and wait until the conference is over. Then please, by all means savour the sights and sounds of Malaysia. On this note, I wish you all a rewarding and productive conference. Thank you. 2  BIS Review 49/2005
The Asian crisis almost 15 years later underscored the risks of relying on inflows that look stable but prove ephemeral. And subsequent crises in Latin America around the turn of the millennium and in advanced economies (AEs) a decade ago reinforced the risks of taking capital flows for granted. In theory, foreign capital inflows should support growth through greater allocative efficiency, better risk sharing and increased technology transfer. But in reality financial openness has proven a double-edged sword. The typical emerging market economy (EME) receiving higher capital inflows will grow 0.3 percentage points faster, all else equal (Chart 1). But the typical EME with higher capital flow volatility will grow 0.7 percentage points slower (Chart 2).1  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Capital flows as % GDP  9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0  Real GDP growth (%)  9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0  0.4  0.6  0.8  1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 Volatility of flows  1.8  Real GDP growth (%)  Charts 1 and 2: Financial openness is a double-edged sword  2.0  Source: IMF. Notes: Volatility is the coefficient of variation of gross inflows scaled by external liabilities. Real GDP growth, gross inflows to GDP and volatility are averaged over 1970 to 2017 for 38 emerging market economies.

Attention at the highest management level is therefore vital to ensure the formulation of the most appropriate ICT strategies for banks to remain competitive. The new banking environment is about differentiating banking products and services that provide increased choices, control, security and accessibility. The ability of financial institutions to deliver products and services in the most efficient and effective manner will be key to determining performance and relevance. In this area, financial institutions in Malaysia have not been behind in embracing the rapidly evolving technologies and in taking initiatives to enhance the delivery channels. There are 12 banks offering Internet banking facilities while five have introduced mobile banking. The adoption of chip technology now also offers new forms of payment choices and higher security to the public. The introduction of the Bankcard to replace the magnetic stripe ATM cards and efforts towards migrating to EMV compliant credit cards before end-2004 is indeed an important step forward. A further development has been the introduction of the MEPS Cash, the national e-purse scheme as an alternative electronic payment mode to using cash for making retail payments. The ATM machines of the participating banks and terminals at retail outlets are being upgraded to facilitate MEPS Cash transactions. With these developments, specific programmes need to be implemented to promote the usage of MEPS Cash among the public and business entities. Indeed, this e-payment program is a good start to promote a wider use an acceptance of this means of payment.
If use of the franc were to be crowded out by the euro, the Swiss National Bank would have had little leverage left to influence monetary conditions in Switzerland. It would become a sort of paper tiger! c)  Third, even short of a full “euro-ization” of the Swiss economy, we feared the loss of our monetary policy autonomy. Given the importance of the common currency for the Swiss economy, what else could the Swiss National Bank do other than follow the European Central Bank’s policy and de facto integrate the franc into the euro zone? A gradually shrinking interest-rate differential between euro and Swiss franc investments as well as a loss in monetary autonomy would have resulted. How does our recent experience relate to these concerns? 3. Our experience as an independent monetary entity  a)  The euro/swiss franc relationship  Our fears of a euro destabilizing the Swiss franc did not materialize. Relative to the euro, and since its introduction, the franc has been fluctuating in a relatively narrow band of plus or minus 5 percent, about four times less than against the dollar during the same period. The Swiss franc appears now to be less affected by exchange rate shocks and more shielded from speculative movements. In the past, the franc was overreacting to the dollar’s fluctuations, so that the pain of an appreciation of our currency relative to the greenback was exacerbated by a simultaneous appreciation of the Swiss franc relative to the German mark.

The notion that the welfare of a country boils down to the short-run profits of a few foreign exchange dealers is of course narrow minded. The reality offers a completely different picture. Switzerland has always suffered from external monetary turbulences and always wished for a stable monetary order. For example, the various crises of the European Monetary System in the 1990s, with a dramatic drop of the Italian lira, have led to the complete removal of the traditional textile industry from our economic geography. Such structural adjustment could arguably have occurred anyway, but the decisive factor at the time was of monetary origin. The purpose of the creation of the common currency was not only to concentrate the monetary power in the hands of the European Central Bank, but also to promote the conditions for transparency and competitiveness that would in turn foster trade, investment and growth in the single European market. Price comparisons are indeed easier today, and trade and liquidity management are much simplified, although it is still too early to numerically assess the impact of these effects on growth. Simplifying trade and investments benefits all members of the European monetary zone, and it also helps anyone interested in being active in the European market. Switzerland, with its high degree of  BIS Review 70/2004  1  integration in the euro zone, reaps large benefits from this stable situation. Thus, it is clear that on those aspects, the introduction of the euro was very good news for the Swiss economy. 2.
The introduction of the Deutschmark was followed by measures to deregulate the economy and dismantle price controls. Virtually overnight, goods were available in the shops again. In the wake of these reforms, the Bank deutscher Länder, the precursor of the Bundesbank, was founded. The launch of the Deutschmark was an institutional prerequisite for the beginning of the postwar German Wirtschaftswunder. The successful reform bolstered the reputation of the monetary policy authorities and provided fertile soil for the trust the Bundesbank has enjoyed as a defender of stable money up to the present day. 21  The events in Argentina in 2007 led to the initiation of a research project at the MIT Sloan School of Management to collect price data from retailers on a daily basis using scraping technology. The project, currently referred to as the Billion Prices Project (see http://bpp.mit.edu/) is primarily associated with the MIT researchers Alberto Cavallo and Roberto Rigobon. The project started on a very small scale where in 2007. Cavallo used the technology to collect price data from supermarkets across Argentina, and he showed that inflation in Argentina was between twice and three times as high reported in the official figures. Today, the project is being continued under the direction of the private company PriceStats, which provides data collection and processing services. The Billion Prices Project currently involves the collection of price information from more than 70 countries and daily inflation series are published for over 20 of them.

These principles also summarise the six speeches I have given at the Academy of Science and Letters: a good institution keeps promises, makes good decisions, practices transparency as a governance principle, and learns from its own history and manages its cultural heritage. And the threads are gathered here. Today’s speech seeks to encompass all the themes in one frame. The lessons learned from Norges Bank’s first 200 years and the criteria I just cited are useful both in Norges Bank’s daily work and in making longer-term assessments. I would argue that these general principles apply to other institutions too, whether legal, cultural or educational. Decisions that are made in these institutions determine whether a country’s citizens can live a life of freedom and prosperity. The first measure is transparency. The Bank must expose itself to criticism by publishing the analyses behind its decisions. It must also be open about budgets and expenditure. The second measure is an international anchor. The Bank must be part of the international network of central banks and academic communities to compare itself with others, not only with itself. Erik Brofoss was perhaps a governor who was most concerned with issues other than central banking tasks. But it was he who laid the foundation for the “long recovery”- perhaps without realising the extent to which his pioneering efforts would bear forth. Brofoss believed that the young economists at the Bank had to go out into the world and learn.