samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Well-trained directors can be firm hands in steering companies through pitfalls which may appear. In such an uncertain environment, it will be critical to reinforce the confidence of stakeholders in how our companies are run. This will require both the government and the private sector to play our part. 6. On the regulators’ end, we will continue to make sensible rules that are practical and outcome focused. We will also continue to keep our rules up to date. The Corporate Governance Council, established by MAS, is reviewing the Singapore Code of Corporate Governance and will submit its recommendations to MAS. On its part, the private sector must nurture a pool of well-trained and ethical directors. 7. Being a director will become increasingly demanding. Companies’ operations are getting more international, and the markets for raising capital becoming more complex. Expectations of directors by stakeholders are also growing. 8. Directors are now exposed to substantial legal and reputational risk if they do not, or are perceived not to have, discharged their fiduciary duties for the company. For example, directors of BP have been sued by shareholders over the costs associated with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Directors of AIG were also sued for not adequately monitoring the firm’s exposure to the subprime mortgage market. BIS Review 164/2010  1  9. Directors should not become defensive or legalistic in face of these challenges.

An example is the Risk Management & Corporate Governance Programme, conducted with SPRING Singapore. 2  BIS Review 164/2010  19. SID can do much more in this respect. SID should be sensitive to the current needs of directors and fine-tune the content of its courses accordingly. In addition, SID can better engage experienced directors, and tap on their expertise through putting together relevant case studies. Conclusion 20. Ladies and gentlemen, with increasing expectations on directors, companies will come to place a premium on well-trained, ethical directors who look out for the interests of all stakeholders, and are not rubber stamps for management decisions. This presents an opportunity to directors who are proficient and professional. 21. It is in companies’ and directors’ best interests to “Get it Right” by having effective and committed directors who pursue good corporate governance practices, as this will result in a premium for shareholders. Grooming such directors will help to encourage new ideas, better practices and encourage leadership renewal for company boards. 22. On this note, I would like to end by thanking SID for its efforts in the area of corporate governance. I hope that the discussions arising from this conference will help directors gain a better understanding of how they can carry out their duties more effectively. 23. Thank you and have a pleasant day ahead. BIS Review 164/2010  3
In Europe, the banks are more important for the supply of capital to the real economy than they are in the United States. So, on our side of the Atlantic, support was channelled via the banking system to a greater degree. The ECB has increased liquidity, partly by offering loans with longer maturities. In addition, the ECB has supported the markets for both covered bonds and government securities and has thereby supported the banking system of the euro area. It has not been able to prevent European banks from encountering serious problems. Many smaller banks – and a number of major banks – have been forced to close. These liquidations have often been carried out with governmental participation and support. The costs of government capital contributions and guarantees have been comprehensive. These lie behind a large part of the fiscal policy problems currently being faced by many European states, a subject I will return to. The most critical period for Swedish banks was between the autumn of 2008 and the spring of 2009. The liquidity shortage on the financial markets made it difficult for the banks to renew their loans. This was joined by the threat posed by the crisis in the Baltic countries and the Swedish banks’ exposures there. The consequences of this were that the value of Swedish bank securities fell drastically and demand for government securities rose.

  Banks should lend a little more of their own money and a little less of everybody else’s. Now I look forward to discussing this with you in the association. BIS central bankers’ speeches  11
The non-oil sector exports were valued at about $ billion in 2006 and constituted almost 6.0 percent of total GDP and 13.2 percent of non-oil GDP. During 2006, the national economy continued its remarkable growth for the fourth consecutive year, especially in the non-oil sector which grew by 6.2 percent following its growth rate of 5.2 percent in 2005. The non-oil industrial sector was the fastest growing sector of the economy recording a robust growth of 10.1 percent during the preceding year. The sector has continued its robust growth during the current year. Due to higher economic growth and receipt of higher than anticipated revenues, the fiscal position of the government has improved substantially in recent years. The budget surpluses since 2003 have enabled the government to reduce its domestic debt sharply and increase its expenditure on infrastructure and social sectors. The ratio of domestic debt to GDP has declined from 82 percent in 2003 to 27.9 percent in 2006 which was reflected positively on our public finance and macroeconomic stability. These trends are likely to continue against the oil revenue cushion and fiscal discipline along with continuous expansion of the economy. The foregoing policy initiatives, combined with the recent budgetary surpluses have enabled us to launch a number of key development projects that are designed to develop the county's physical and social infrastructure, especially spending on education and training, diversifying the economy, creating jobs and enhancing growth prospects.

A key facet of the economic reforms has been the active participation of the private sector in all aspects of the economy particularly in the manufacturing, construction and services sectors. Now turning to the Kingdom’s goals and aspirations for the next decades. We have a clear vision that Saudi Arabia will represent an industrial hub among the region's countries, leveraging off on its strategic location, competitive supply of energy, size of the local market, ease of access to global markets, and the growing partnerships between the public and private sectors. This strategy fulfils our State’s goal of diversifying our economic production base away from Oil. For this purpose, we have encouraged and will continue to encourage the private sector by providing attractive incentives, including the setting up of industrial zones in various parts of the country, equipping them with various infrastructural facilities and by increasing the capital base of specialized credit institutions to provide long-term loans to entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, the Saudi economy is facing a number of challenges the most important of which is the increasing rate of inflation. Although inflation was less than 1 percent on average in the last two decades, it rose to 2.2 percent in 2006 and it continued to increase during the last months, exceeding 4 percent in last August according to the Central Department of Statistics and Information. Our concern is that factors that caused accelerating inflation are still in existence.
As this was our first rate increase in 15 years, it was a truly historic moment for us. On 22 September, we raised the policy rate further, this time by 75 basis points. With this second increase, the policy rate moved back into positive territory to its current level of 0.5%. This was another historic moment for us, as it ended the phase of negative policy rates in Switzerland, which had prevailed since January 2015. Why does the implementation of monetary policy matter? Our rate hike in September (the red arrow in Slide 4) signalled that we would like to see secured short-term Swiss franc money market rates – particularly the most representative money market rate, SARON – settle close to the now-positive level of the SNB policy rate. The announcement of a policy rate change does not, in and of itself, always cause money market rates to rise, especially in an environment of abundant reserves. For money market rates to rise as envisaged, monetary policy must be implemented in a manner that ensures Swiss franc money market rates move close to the SNB policy rate. What does it take to achieve this? In terms of our chart on Slide 4, what does it take for the blue arrow to materialise? The transition to a positive rate environment did not change the objective we pursue when implementing our monetary policy. Our objective, stated on the left-hand side of Slide 5, remains to keep secured short-term Swiss franc money market rates close to the SNB policy rate.

Slide 2 shows consumer price index (CPI) inflation rates in the US, the euro area and Switzerland since 1980. In the 30 years from 1990 to 2020, the Swiss inflation rate, shown in red, averaged a mere 1.0% per annum. Since the end of 2020, however, the tide has turned markedly, and inflation has surged globally. Inflation has risen in Switzerland as well, albeit somewhat later and not as sharply as in other economies. Swiss annual consumer price inflation has been above 3% since the middle of this year and has reached its highest level since the early 1990s. The latest CPI data put Swiss inflation at 3.0%. This rate is above the  1  In the context of the SNB, ‘reserves’ are often referred to as ‘sight deposits’. In this speech, we use the term ‘reserves’. Page 2/10  range the SNB equates with price stability, namely a rise in the CPI of less than 2% per annum. As inflationary pressures emanating from abroad intensified in the second half of last year, the SNB decided at its monetary policy assessment in December 2021 to allow the Swiss franc to appreciate a certain amount in nominal terms. Additionally, starting in June of this year, we tightened our monetary policy by raising the SNB policy rate. 2 On 16 June, we raised the SNB policy rate – the blue line in Slide 3 – by 50 basis points, to −0.25%.
Figure 6 Inflation indicators  Incidences on monthly inflation (*)  (annual change, percent)  (percentage points)  12  12  0.8  0.8  10  10  8  8  0.6  0.6  6  6  0.4  0.4  4  4  0.2  0.2  2  2  0.0  0.0  0  0  -0.2  -0.2  -2  -2  -0.4  -0.4  -4  -4 06 07 CPI  08  09  10  11  CPI minus foodstuffs and energy  11  Apr. Jul. Oct.  Fresh fruits & vegetables (2.90%) Fuels (5.70%) Foodstuffs X1 (17.77%)  CPI  Meats (3.55%)  (*) In parentheses, shares in CPI basket. Sources: Central Bank of Chile and National Statistics Institute (INE).

This, of course, seeking to preserve the conditions that will foster economic growth and the welfare of the population. Thank you. 6  BIS central bankers’ speeches  Figure 1 Banks' average CDS (1) (basis points)  Liquidity conditions (4) (basis points)  500  500 100  100  400  400  80  80  300  300  60  60  200  200  40  40  100  100  20  20  0  0  0  0  08  09  10  U.S. (2)  10 Jul. 11 Jul. ene.10jul.10ene.11jul.11  11 Europe (3)  U.S.  Japan  Eurozone  (1) Simple average of 5-year CDS premiums. Dotted line marks statistical cutoff date of previous Report. (2) U.S. includes Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America. (3) Europe includes Société Générale, Deutsche Bank, UBS AG, Santander, BBVA and UniCredit. (4) Difference between the Libo rate and the overnight indexed swap (OIS), both at three months. For the Eurozone, difference between Euribo rate and respective OIS. Source: Bloomberg.
Moreover, it will increase the security measures that banks should apply in order to provide the security and the good use of the information, the maintenance of the information and the continuity of work in cases of extraordinary events. Another crucial issue to be paid a special attention to and where certain deficiencies are present, is the SWIFT system. There needs to be a better administration of the users’ profile, in order to observe the three stages of sending the messages (creation, verification and authorization), and a division of security officers’ duties (left and right officer) from the different operational duties at the SWIFT. It is also necessary that the internal bank audit (or external when provided by consultant companies) be expanded, including the information technology entirely. This audit, which currently is limited only to the system users’ profiles or to the access rights they have in the system, should include issues that relate to the functionality of these systems, the accuracy of generating the information, the changes in the system, the information security during the operation and in transmission (for on-line branches) etc. 7. The enhancement of transparency of the bank commissions applied for loan payments, and in particular the decrease or abolition of domestic commissions or of incoming payments, are another measure that the Bank of Albania is implementing in the context of attracting the public and businesses as far as the banking services are concerned.

Hosting discussions like this one we are having today is part of this process, so I’m looking forward to hear from our panelists, which do not require any introduction. But nevertheless let me say a few words to introduce them to you. Our first panelist is Jacob Frenkel. Dr. Frenkel taught international economics at the University of Chicago before serving as Governor of the Bank of Israel between 1991 and 2000. He then moved to the private sector, where he is currently the Chairman of JPMorgan Chase International and he also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Group of Thirty. I’d also like to introduce Jean Claude Trichet. Mr. Trichet had a long and successful career in the public sector where he was assigned to various posts in the French government, including Governor of the Banque de France. In 2003 he was appointed President of the European Central Bank, in which capacity he served for eight years. He is currently the Chairman and CEO of the Group of Thirty. Our third panelist is Axel Weber. After a distinguished career in academia, Dr. Weber was president of the Deutsche Bundesbank between 2004 and 2011. After leaving the Bundesbank, he was a Visiting Professor at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. He is currently Chairman of the Board at UBS.
All those concerned must of course also solve any problems they encounter as a consequence of EMU. For the Riksbank, a highly important task in Sweden's preparations is information about and consultations with the financial sector on matters to do with the changeover. To this end we have formed a consultative group (SIFS) and five sub-groups to work on the practical preparations together with the financial sector. This collaboration has led us to conclude that the financial sector can cope with a changeover to euro on 1st January 1999. We also consider that in some respects joining later would make the preparations more difficult. The worst alternative would be a long period of uncertainty about our participation, what we usually call a "soft no". Costly double systems would then be required in several areas. We have also observed concern in the financial sector that staying outside the euro area would entail increased costs, competitive disadvantages and risk various forms of discrimination. "Wait-and-see" may be less attractive A common opinion at present seems to be that a soft no is not unlikely and would not involve appreciably higher economic costs than participation from the start. Deferring participation for some years would not exclude us from the euro area for good. In our cooperation with the financial sector, however, we have seen that uncertainty about participation is causing many financial agents to make preparations for handling euro as well as kronor.

Retailers will also have to consider temporary storage space for cash-boxes and additional transport requirements. The Riksbank is likewise working to make the period with double currencies as short as possible. There are, however, other aspects to consider. Incorporating euro in the system will take time. Just the work of distributing the new banknotes will be time-consuming. We shall be looking into what is feasible in practice. Time will also be needed to adapt the automatic teller systems (Bankomat and Minuten) to the new currency. Another matter to be investigated is whether the distribution of euro to banks, post offices and possibly retailers can start before the date on which the new currency becomes legal tender. Moreover, some consumer interests, for instance, have said than many consumers would prefer a relatively long changeover period in which to get used to the new currency. The question of the period with double currencies therefore calls for further discussion in order to arrive at a solution that everyone can accept. Retailers have also put forward the view that it should be possible to provide change only in euro from day one. We believe this may be difficult both in practice and on the grounds of the accepted BIS Review 41/1997  -5-  changeover principle of "no compulsion - no prohibitions". It has been said that people in general are to be free to decide whether to use euro from the start on 1st January 1999 or to wait until the changeover is completed in 2002.
Higher demand leads to higher output and employment. Wage growth may pick up. Higher wage growth combined with higher profit margins will result in higher inflation. Lower interest rates normally lead to a depreciation of the krone. Imported goods then become more expensive and inflation accelerates. Expectations play a key role in price and wage formation, and they are influenced by the interest rate. Expectations concerning inflation and economic stability have considerable impact, not least in the foreign exchange market. Petroleum activity constitutes an important part of the Norwegian economy. Oil gives us an economic base that is not available to many other countries. At the same time, the extent of, and fluctuations in, petroleum activity pose a challenge to economic policy in Norway. In a long-term perspective, Norway’s petroleum wealth is to be distributed across generations. The authorities must therefore exercise fiscal discipline, taking into account long-term considerations. In the short term, the substantial capital revenues from the petroleum sector must be managed in such a way that they do not amplify cyclical fluctuations. The Government Petroleum Fund was established in 1990 with a view to safeguarding long-term considerations in the use of petroleum revenues. The idea behind the Petroleum Fund is that the cash flow from an increase in oil prices should accrue to the Fund and be invested abroad and that the increase in oil prices should not affect the wider budget. As a result, the increase in the cash flow does not affect the domestic economy.

Likewise, a fall in oil prices does not have an impact on the domestic  BIS Review 66/2004  1  economy, but results in a lower accumulation of foreign assets. The Fund thus acts as a buffer against disturbances. By building up the Fund, the aim of ensuring that several generations will enjoy the benefits of our petroleum wealth is also taken into account. In 2001, the Storting adopted new economic policy guidelines in Norway. At the same time as the inflation target was introduced in monetary policy, a strategy was drawn up for the use of petroleum revenues over the government budget, i.e. the fiscal rule. The fiscal rule is designed to prevent swings in the petroleum sector from spreading to the mainland economy. This ensures that petroleum revenues are phased in at a steady pace. The guideline specifying that only the real return on the Petroleum Fund is to be used means that the capital in the Fund is not depleted over time. Norges Bank has no set target for the level of the exchange rate. Nevertheless, developments in the krone are of considerable importance to interest-rate setting because the exchange rate has an impact on inflation and output. An important channel for monetary policy is the foreign exchange market and the krone exchange rate. Although the krone fluctuates, the krone exchange rate is not particularly unstable compared with other countries’ currencies. The krone exchange rate is the price of our currency measured in a foreign currency.
Ajith Nivard Cabraal: Protecting financial systems from money laundering and terrorist financing activities Keynote address by Mr Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, at the World Bank Workshop on Capacity Enhancement for Anti Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism, Colombo, 7-11 May 2007. *  *  *  Ladies & Gentlemen, Let me welcome you to the inaugural ceremony of this Capacity Enhancement workshop and extend to all overseas participants and representatives a very warm welcome to our country. I am also happy to be able today to share a few thoughts with you about the need to ensure the integrity of worldwide financial systems by protecting such systems from money laundering and terrorist financing activities. This is a challenging task as advancements in technology, especially in the financial services industry, have made it easier for criminals including terrorists to take advantage of liberalized financial markets, innovative technologies and the ease with which cross-border flows of financial transactions can take place. One of the most recent incidents in this regard is the sophistication with which, internationally active Tamil Tiger Terrorists have successfully perpetrated a massive credit card fraud in London costing the British public, according to reports, about 100 million Sterling Pounds by skimming credit cards belonging to the British public. Skimming has been a common technique used to raise funds for terrorists in Algeria, Kashmir and Chechnya, and now it is clear that it is being extensively practiced in the Western world too.

Unemployment is projected to decline this year and next. In subsequent years, growth in demand and output is expected to ease and unemployment may edge up again when capacity utilisation approaches a more normal level. With a somewhat tighter labour market and rising inflation in the years ahead, wage growth may pick up. Over the past year, low consumer price inflation has probably contributed to keeping nominal wage increases lower than implied by labour market tightness in isolation. Low inflation has resulted in high growth in household purchasing power even with moderate pay increases. 6  BIS Review 27/2005  The first results from this year’s wage settlements may indicate that centralised pay increases this year may be lower than the projection in the March Inflation Report. With a path for the interest rate and the krone exchange rate in line with the baseline scenario in Inflation Report 1/05, inflation may increase gradually from less than 1 per cent today to close to 2 per cent in mid-2006. Under these assumptions, inflation may stabilise at around 2½ per cent at the three-year horizon. Developments in line with these projections imply that the output gap will increase to about 1¼ per cent in 2006. As the interest rate is gradually increased to a more normal level, growth in private demand will probably ease, and capacity utilisation may be brought down and stabilise. Developments over the past few weeks do not provide grounds for changing this perception of the state of the real economy.