samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
If we have to contact 25 different regulators or supervisors in order to get a picture of who and what in the single market is allowed and under what conditions, it would be extremely cumbersome. From that point of view, we welcome an increase in efficiency at European level. We consider the completion of the banking union important for the single market and the single currency, in other words, one market, one banking supervisor and one security supervisor in the medium term. That should be accompanied by one deposit insurance system as well. But I understand those who say, “Let’s first clean up all the remaining negative elements from the past before we accept a sharing of responsibility at European level. That is exactly what we are doing now by pushing for the resolution of non-performing loans. We’re trying to put supervisory standards on the same level. It is not enough to assign only the responsibility to the European level, we also need a level playing field in terms of the tools and their implementation. The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier1 (CSSF) has recently expressed its concern about its sanctioning powers. What do you think of Director General Claude Marx’s statement? I don’t know this statement. According to European law, the authority for criminal cases is still a national affair. When it comes to administrative sanctioning, that’s another issue. Some propose setting up a sanctioning authority that does nothing but sanctioning.

Across Upstate New York, broadly speaking, the cycle of recession and recovery has been much less pronounced than in the nation, and even the state as a whole. This pattern has been true in Syracuse, as well. Employment fell by a little over 4 percent during the downturn – a steep drop, to be sure – but only about two-thirds of the decline that occurred nationally. This is quite a change from the region’s past recessions, which have tended to be longer and deeper than the nation’s. One reason why Upstate New York weathered the economic storm a bit better than the nation is the resiliency of its housing markets. Like much of Upstate New York, Syracuse’s housing market has been relatively stable and did not experience a boom-bust cycle like much of the rest of the nation. In fact, since the peak of the national housing market in early 2006, home prices in Syracuse have increased by close to 10 percent, compared with a decline of more than 30 percent nationally. 1  As measured by the 12-month change in the core PCE deflator. 2  See for instance, the behavior of the three- and six-month changes in the core PCE deflator. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  As a result, the drop off in economic activity that is connected, directly and indirectly, to the performance of the housing sector has not been as severe here as it was in many other places.
Analyzing the countries, only 5 countries of them, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Latvia and Estonia, managed to reduce the debt in the 2015/2013 period. These countries, with the exception of Hungary are less vulnerable when it comes to the government debt as they belong to the so called "lower indebted countries". On the other side, the debt rise in the latest period additionally inflated already high levels of debt and deepened the vulnerable positions of some of the countries in the region (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Albania). Chart 11: Fiscal indicators, developments in different periods of time Budget Balance, in % of GDP MKD ALB CRO BUL SRB BIH SLO CZR EST HUN LAT LIT POL ROM  40  Debt change, in p.p of GDP  35 30  4  25  2  20  0  15 10  -2  5  -4  0  -6  -5  -10  -8  100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 -10 -20 -30  MKD ALB CRO BUL SRB BIH SLO CZR EST HUN LAT LIT POL ROM -10 Average 2002-2007  Average 2008-2012  Average 2013-2015  Debt change 2013/2009  Debt change 2015/2013  Debt level 2015 (left scale)  Source: WEO October 2016, database. The analysis of the long-term rates on government debt reveals that after the peak of the crisis in 2009, the interest rates on government borrowing in the region have been declining.

Distance of debt level 2020/21 to 60% Maastricht Criteria  3  Strong adjustment  No adjustment  4  -10  0  Gradual adjustment  2 1  20  30  40  ROM  LIT  HUN  LAT  CZR  POL  MKD  BIH  SLO  CRO  BUL  ALB  35  LAT  LITH  15 MK  PL  AL  25  RO  BIH  5 -5  SRB  HU CRO  0 -1  10  45  7  5  -20  BUG  8  6  -30  -15 -25  SLO -35  SRB  IMF DSA Debt change 2021/2020 - 2015  -2  -45  *Size: 0.5 - no adjustment; 1 - gradual; above 1 - strong. ** "-" is above "+" is below the benchmark. ***  To sum up, it appears that ECB policy accommodative actions affected the financial conditions in the region. Reduction of the main policy rate allowed a room for policy rate reduction in the region thus contributing to lower costs for borrowing of the private and public sector. Part of the injected liquidity through asset purchase programs seems to be allocated on the CESEE financial markets, enabling cross– border capital flows that underpinned the process of recovery of asset prices and reduction of the borrowing costs.
Since December 2000, growth forecasts for our trading partners have been halved for 2001. The tragic events of 11 September will have a further dampening effect on activity in the US, Asia and European economies. In the euro area, high oil prices, livestock diseases, the decline in the ICT sector and reduced demand in the US have had a negative impact on economic developments. GDP growth has also slowed considerably over the last year. Unemployment has shown a substantial decline in recent years and is low in many of the smaller countries. Unemployment is high in the large countries. Particular structural features, such as wide regional disparities, are contributing to the high level of overall unemployment. The terrorist attacks of 11 September have reduced demand in the aviation and travel industries. The European Central Bank has cut its key rates by 1 percentage point so far this year. Until the autumn, the Norwegian economy had remained relatively insulated from the world economic slowdown. It now appears clear that Norway will also be affected by the slowdown. A number of Norwegian enterprises in export industries and the travel industry have felt the effects of growing caution among households and businesses worldwide. Investment in mainland enterprises will probably also decline. However, the economic situation in Norway is different from that of the euro area. The Norwegian economy is still characterised by high capacity utilisation with a limited supply of labour. Registered unemployment has been low and stable since the autumn of 1998.

1 International Monetary Fund (IMF), 6 April 2020, World Economic Outlook, April 2020: The Great Lockdown 2 Euromoney, 7 April 2020, Coronavirus crisis offers green and social bonds chance to prove their worth 3 World Bank Press Release No: 2020/180/HNP, 27 April 2020 4 Infrastructure Asia and World Bank Press Releases, 1 June 2020 5 Global Sustainable Investment Alliance, April 2019, 2018 Global Sustainable Investment Review 6 Morningstar, 3 April 2020, Sustainable funds weather the first quarter better than conventional funds;  Morningstar, 28 May 2020, What the pandemic means for sustainable investing 7 BlackRock compilation at 18 May 2020, Sustainable investing: resilience amid uncertainty  4/4  BIS central bankers' speeches
For the purposes of the survey, new lending comprises both refinancing of an existing mortgage from another lender and newly granted loans for the purchase or construction of real estate. Equally, actual interest rate risk increases if banks stop – or scale back – hedging activities for such risk to reduce costs. Page 7/10  The SNB regularly conducts simulations to gauge the significance of this interest rate risk exposure for financial stability. As set out in this year’s Financial Stability Report, these simulations suggest that the Swiss banking system is well positioned to absorb a gradual normalisation of interest rates under current conditions. 8 Indeed, the banks even stand to benefit from such a scenario, as a moderate interest rate rise would relieve pressure on interest rate margins. This is due to the fact that the first effect of a moderate rise in interest rates would likely be a normalisation of liability margins. If, on the other hand, we assume a scenario in which interest rates rise very sharply, this would have a significant adverse impact on the banks. This outcome is attributable to the fact that, in such circumstances, structural margins would decline substantially – in other words, losses associated with maturity transformation would materialise. It would not be possible to offset this effect with improved liability margins. In this context, I should emphasise that the domestically focused banks have been accumulating capital in recent years and now hold sizeable capital surpluses that significantly exceed regulatory minimum requirements.

Payment service providers will have to apply these requirements as of 19 April 2020. 2/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  With regard to Regulation (EU) 2019/518, Regulation (EU) 2018/389 and the Corrigendum of Directive (EU) 2015/2366, amendments to the Law on Payment Services and Payment Systems have been prepared which are due to be adopted by the end of 2019. 1 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/389 supplementing Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European  Parliament and of the Council with regard to regulatory technical standards for strong customer authentication and common and secure open standards of communication 2 Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council on payment services in the internal  market 3 Regulation (EU) 2019/518 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 March 2019 amending  Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 as regards certain charges on cross-border payments in the Union and currency conversion charges  3/3  BIS central bankers' speeches
Exports of goods, excluding gold, continue to contract, largely attributable to weak external demand, notably from China and Asian trading partners, as well as structural constraints of the Thai industries and changes in global trade structure. Weak exports have mainly weighed on private investment which only saw a modest expansion. Private consumption, particularly which of rural agricultural households, has been dragged by high indebtedness, low income growth and severe drought. Amid gradual economic recovery, employment conditions remain intact. Flexibility in the labor market has allowed workers to move from the agricultural sector to other sectors. There have been no extensive layoffs, despite a reduced number of working hours. In recognition of lower-than-potential growth and low inflationary pressure, the Monetary Policy Committee has maintained an accommodative policy stance to support the economic recovery. At its latest meeting a few weeks ago, the Committee decided to maintain the policy interest rate at 1.50 percent. In the Committee’s view, current monetary conditions have eased further as bond yields remained low, and commercial bank lending rates declined. Therefore, the policy interest rate should be kept on hold to preserve limited policy space, which can be deployed if unforeseen events emerge in the future. Moreover, maintaining the policy interest rate would not add risks to financial stability. Under a prolonged period of low interest rate environment, some tentative signs of search-for-yield  2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  behavior, such as higher demand for risker financial instruments, have emerged and thus warrant close monitoring going forward.

This has been as a result of Government’s sound macroeconomic management and the critical contributions that various sectors of the economy have made, of which the insurance sector is a part. Let me once again thank you for inviting me to share my thoughts with you on the role that your noble profession plays in this economy. On our part as Bank of Zambia, we shall keep on facilitating the development of, among others, the insurance sector by continuing to improve macroeconomic conditions that are critical to the expansion of your businesses. In turn, it is expected that other sectors of the economy will benefit and contribute to accelerated economic growth and development that the country is craving so much for in order to reduce poverty. May I, at this juncture, point out that in order to facilitate your work, you may track some of the developments in our economy on the Bank of Zambia website, which you can visit on www.boz.zm. You can also contact us directly for any information you may require on the economy. I thank you for your attention. BIS Review 72/2006  3
At the beginning of 2009, the severe downturn in the global economy had translated into a very serious threat of deflation in Switzerland. For example, the inflation forecasts produced by the IMF showed inflation in Switzerland to be in negative territory for two years in a row. Price stability was evidently not assured. The substantial increase in the value of the Swiss franc since the beginning of financial crisis represented an inappropriate tightening of monetary conditions. Yet, it was imperative that monetary conditions be kept as loose as possible, a fortiori to avoid a further monetary tightening. Given that the interest rate was effectively at a zero level, the SNB decided to prevent any appreciation in the Swiss franc with respect to the euro from March 2009 on. The SNB achieved this goal by repeatedly intervening in the foreign exchange market during the course of 2009. This policy was maintained until the monetary policy assessment (MPA) of December 2009. By the end of 2009, the economic situation was showing some signs of improvement and the threat of deflation was estimated to have diminished. As a consequence, the SNB decided that a certain appreciation in the Swiss franc could be allowed without price stability being compromised. At the December MPA, the SNB therefore announced that it would act  8  There are, however, twice daily margin calls in case of variations in the collateral market value. 9  Source: IMF (2003), “Deflation: Determinants, Risks, and Policy Options”, April 2003.

However, these numbers are estimates given that almost all of the repo transactions are conducted over the counter. See also IMF (2010), Global Financial Stability Report, October 2010. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  there is no new information but only the application of the existing and published criteria. Compared to many other central banks, the definition of eligible collateral is unusually open in the sense that the SNB is rare among central banks in accepting securities denominated in foreign currencies and not only in its home currency, the Swiss franc. The quid-pro-quo of this multi-currency policy is that securities eligible for SNB repo transactions must satisfy stringent quality requirements: these requirements concern their credit ratings and liquidity properties. This policy is coherent – open but strict! – and it has substantial advantages. First, no initial margin or haircut is applied during standardised repo transactions, making the system more capital efficient.8 Second, it allows a broad range of financial institutions to participate, including many international banks. Third, it creates incentives for banks to hold high-quality, liquid assets in their balance sheets. Finally, as already suggested, this highly credible collateral policy has resulted in SNB eligible collateral becoming the standard for the secured interbank money market in Swiss francs. This, in turn, has made an essential contribution to creating a robust secured interbank market and thereby keeping interbank credit lines open at all times during the crisis. II.
Having become independent in the 1990s, both the Banque de France and the Bank of Japan maintained price stability in the face of adverse pressures, whether inflationary or deflationary, making use of a range of appropriate instruments. Participating in the community of central banks that has gradually been built up, the Banque de France and the Bank of Japan, in parallel, have been regional pivots of the central bank function. After the Second World War in particular, our two institutions favoured co-operation with the central banks of economic regions undergoing reconstruction and newly emerging markets. Finally, during the twentieth century, we carved out a place for ourselves in the world by adapting to the new international functions: the more dynamic the international markets were, like in the 1920s and in stages from the 1960s onwards, the more our two banks’ international functions developed. 2  BIS Review 1/2008  This morning’s session, concerning the history of our economies and institutions, will enable us to shed light on all these aspects. The afternoon’s session will focus on developments in our economies and institutions in an increasingly globalised world. Globalisation is not a new phenomenon. The past 150 years of diplomatic and economic relations between our two countries are proof of this. However, the scope and the speed of the current stage of globalisation have far outstripped anything experienced in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

During  BIS Review 1/2008  1  this “French period” of your career, you acquired an extraordinary knowledge of our country, its language and culture. Since then, you have always shown deep and unswerving friendship towards France. You have many French friends, some of whom are with us today. The French Government recognised your exceptional contribution to Franco-Japanese friendship by awarding you the “Commander of the Legion of Honour” – the highest of our national honours. Let me say how happy and moved I was to be present, in Tokyo on 25 November 2005, at the ceremony where you received this decoration from France’s Ambassador in Japan. I would add that I myself am fascinated by Japan and its culture. For over 25 years I have been to your country almost every year. I also have dear friends there, some of whom have been kind enough to join us today. This mutual attraction for one another’s cultures has helped us, Governor Fukui, to build a strong personal relationship over the course of our meetings at the international institutions, in Basel and Washington in particular. This doubtless explains why we agreed straightaway, when invited by the diplomatic authorities in our respective countries, to involve our institutions in the celebrations of this 150th anniversary. If you look, on the website of the Japanese Embassy in France, at the schedule of events celebrating this occasion – some of which will be quite exceptional – we see that the arts and culture have pride of place.
Whilst remote working only accounted for around 8% of total hours worked in 2019, this increased sharply during the pandemic, reaching 43% in 2021 Q1. Moreover, firms expected remote working to persist into 2022 and beyond, with around 20% of hours expected to be worked from home. 1  5  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches and @BoE_PressOffice  5  has been a negative impact on productivity resulting from measures taken to contain Covid. Firms in the DMP estimated that Covid has increased average unit costs by around 7% in the second and third quarters of last year. They expected this impact to reduce to 5% by the second quarter of this year, with a more persistent negative impact of 2%. All of this reflects new costs – for PPE, screens etc., and the impact on costs from social distancing reducing capacity. However, this negative effect from higher unit costs was offset for DMP members by what is often called a batting average effect – namely that the impact of Covid has shifted the composition of activity towards higher productivity firms. But this means that Covid has seen lower total output and higher average labour productivity. This is consistent with the greater than normal supply side impact of the Covid shock. But this is not creative destruction in a Schumpeterian sense; in other words that raises output through competition and innovation. Rather, this is a form of destruction that lowers total output and welfare.

Zamani Abdul Ghani: Developments in electronic money management Welcome address by Mr Zamani Abdul Ghani, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) and Lafferty Group – World Roundtable on Electronic Money Management “From Practice to Policy”, Kuala Lumpur, 15 May 2010. *  *  *  On behalf of Bank Negara Malaysia, I am most pleased to welcome all of you to this gathering on “World Roundtable on Electronic Money Management” – “From Practice to Policy”. This event is jointly organised by Bank Negara Malaysia, the OMFIF and the Lafferty Group. As you may be aware, Bank Negara will also be hosting the first ever Asia OMFIF Meeting, which will take place at Bank Negara’s Lanai Kijang over the next two days. This World Roundtable on Electronic Money Management, thus precedes the Asia OMFIF Meeting. It provides an excellent opportunity for the industry to have an interactive dialogue with regulators and practitioners from around the world to exchange ideas, experience and perspectives on developments in the area of electronic money and electronic payments. Economic efficiency and cost savings Rapid technological advancements and innovation in the last two decades had revolutionised the payment landscape. In the retail payments area, electronic money in the form of stored value cards and other access devices has grown rapidly. Businesses around the world are also intensifying their efforts to cut operating costs and increase efficiency to improve their long-term competitiveness and sustainability.
Yet, looking back, the crisis also has its silver linings: the painful adjustments that followed prompted governments to strengthen economic fundamentals, enhance banking systems, deepen local bond markets, and build up foreign reserves to cope with potential external shocks. Because of these developments, the region has been able to emerge from the recent global financial crisis relatively unscathed and is now one of the key driving forces supporting the global economic recovery. 5. But we cannot afford to be complacent, as we are now confronted with a new round of challenges in uncharted waters. The unprecedented monetary easing in the advanced economies has led to global excess liquidity. And with the robust recovery of the emerging  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  markets, there are powerful push and pull factors driving investors to search for yields in developing economies including Asia. From Q3 2009 to Q4 2010, the net capital inflows to emerging Asia1 amounted to $ bn, the largest inflows in recent years. 6. The strong capital inflows and resultant abundant liquidity have led to exchange rate appreciation, fuelled credit growth and driven up asset prices in the region. With output gaps closing, inflationary pressures are accelerating in a number of Asian economies. Capital flows also complicate the macroeconomic policy responses. While exchange rate appreciation and monetary tightening could theoretically cool down the economy, in practice, they may attract even more speculative inflows to profit from interest rate arbitrage and currency appreciation. 7.

Exchange rate volatility vis-à-vis the euro area has declined, while it would continue to exist vis-à-vis the US dollar even after integration. The as yet more flexible labour market ushered in by the transition period II of the Bilateral Agreements I is the flagship of Swiss economic policy. It keeps unemployment and the resultant national costs low in the long term and strengthens the incentives for individual performance. It is essential to translate openness and flexibility, also with respect to internal structural reforms and external relations, into autonomously implemented reforms and a practical global orientation. BIS Review 49/2004  1