samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
The second adjustment went into effect on 1 April this year. It was part of the SNB’s response to the coronavirus crisis. We raised the aggregate exemption thresholds by a further 20% to increase the banks’ latitude for lending during this challenging time for the economy. These adjustments have helped to reduce significantly the interest burden borne by the banking system as a whole. As noted earlier, the banking system’s average interest burden had been rising since 2015, mainly due to the foreign exchange market interventions undertaken for monetary policy purposes; this burden declined following the revision of the exemption threshold regime and the threshold increases. The average interest rate on all sight deposits is currently around −0.2% and is thus less than a third of what it would be in a system without exemptions. 3  4  5  The exemption threshold of a bank is calculated as a fixed multiple of its minimum reserve requirement, which itself is a function of its short-term liabilities. Thus, a bank with a higher stock of short-term, safe assets (including repos) relative to its short-term liabilities receives a relatively lower exemption threshold as a share of its short-term, safe assets. When first introduced, the banks’ exemption thresholds were static, in the sense that they were calculated on the basis of a fixed reference period, viz., October 2014.

Banks can satisfy some of their demand for liquidity by participating in these auctions. As the participating banks are then no longer as dependent on the secured interbank market for obtaining the desired amount of liquidity, aggregate demand for overnight liquidity in the repo market falls, thereby reducing upward pressures on SARON. We also wish to note that, over time, liquidity can be redistributed between banks via other channels than just the repo market. For instance, liquidity redistribution may take place via the transfer of customer deposits and longer-term deposits between banks. Naturally, such adjustment processes take some time. Let me summarise the key points we have made so far. The steering of short-term money market rates continues to work – even in negative territory. Three interest rates play a key role  Page 10/13  here. The SNB policy rate is used to communicate the monetary policy decision and, in particular, the desired stance of monetary policy. The negative interest rate on sight deposits that commercial banks hold at the SNB is the main instrument with which the SNB implements monetary policy on the money market. The exemption thresholds allow the burden on the banking system to be reduced without jeopardising the SNB’s ability to keep secured short-term money market rates, in particular SARON, close to its policy rate. As you can see, the SNB has the instruments needed to steer money market interest rates, including during times when these interest rates are in negative territory.
For instance, we are currently facing a massive loss of biodiversity, to which some scientists refer to as the sixth mass extinctioniii and the first one caused by humankind. Indeed, the figures are daunting: according to the last WWF Living Planet Reportiv published this month, the world’s wildlife populations have declined by 69% on average since 1970. Other distressing biophysical patterns beyond climate change and biodiversity loss include pressures on freshwater availability and soil erosion. There is at least one conceptual framework to understand our multiple and interconnected ecological degradations, that of “planetary boundaries” developed by Johan Rockström and his colleagues.v These scientists identified and started to quantify nine planetary boundaries, which correspond to nine Earth subsystems or processes that define the “safe operating space for humanity”. Crossing certain thresholds (for instance, when there is too much CO2 concentrated in the atmosphere, or when biodiversity loss reaches a certain point) can trigger irreversible and massive consequences. These are the famous tipping points: when exceeded, specific Earth subsystems can irreversibly shift toward a new state, with potentially devastating consequences for human populations, let alone for ecosystems and other forms of life. For instance, evidence is mounting that tipping points related to the loss of the Amazon forest could occur more rapidly than previously thought, and have consequences on several planetary boundaries.

Conference “Frontiers of climate and nature in macroeconomics and finance” Paris, 24 October 2022  Central banking in the Anthropocene: How to re-embed our economic and financial systems within planetary boundaries? Speech by Sylvie Goulard, Deputy Governor of the Banque de France  Page 1 sur 12 Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very pleased to open this conference, as nature is a topic close to my heart. I would like to start by thanking the organizers from the Banque de France, the NGFS, the Sustainable Macro initiative and the INSPIRE research initiative for putting together this important event on the frontiers of macroeconomics and finance with regard to climate and nature. In addition, I truly appreciate the presence of many young researchers. It is key to transform the study of macroeconomics and finance for a new ecological era. I would also like to use my time with you this morning to pay tribute to the next speaker at today’s conference, Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, who published an incredibly powerful report last year.i The introduction of the so-called Dasgupta Review makes it clear that (and I quote): “My reader is the concerned citizen. She is someone who has watched television documentaries on the state of the biosphere and has read reports in newspapers and magazines on the extent to which Earth is being degraded and biodiversity is being lost.
Third, we have strengthened the regulatory and reporting requirements for banks as regards the due management of credit risk, in accordance with European practices. Fourth, we have intensified the communication with the banks to address the credit portfolio quality, concerning both the treatment of non-performing loan borrowers and loss loan write off. Fifth, the coordinative role of the Bank of Albania has produced results in terms of restructuring borrowers exposed to more than one bank and will continue in this year to prepare an interbank cooperation platform for a solution to common borrowers; the Bank of Albania is drafting it in cooperation with World Bank’s FinSAC project. In our judgement, the steps taken insofar for resolving non-performing loans will contribute to a fruitful environment to boost sustainable and sound lending. This is a major priority, which requires a multidimensional action matrix and a broad cooperation between state authorities and the banking system. In this aspect, the Bank of Albania drafted and promoted the signing of a joint Memorandum of Understanding for the Sound Growth of Credit in Albania1. In the supervisory process, the Bank of Albania has supported the pursuit of pro-active policies 5/8  BIS central bankers' speeches  against potential risks, with regard to both the quality of the risk analysis performed by banks, and the creation of adequate provisions. This new approach, introduced a year ago, has required amending the regulatory framework, as well as internal practices and capacities.

The return of the economy to potential is accompanied with the strengthening of inflationary pressures and the return of inflation to target within 2018. Notwithstanding positive trends, the economic and financial environment has been a challenging one for the monetary policy. At the year start, we faced a rapid and sharp decline in inflation, as a result of acute disinflationary shocks from the external environment. Downside risks intensified. Also, extraordinary events such as Brexit or geo-political tensions in the external environment led to heightened uncertainty. 2/8  BIS central bankers' speeches  Against this backdrop, the Bank of Albania reacted with determination. The policy rate was lowered in two stages, in April and in May, down to 1.25%. The corridor of interbank rates – the floor is the rate on the overnight deposit and the ceiling is the rate on overnight loan – narrowed to two percentage points. In addition, the Bank of Albania continued to use the forward guidance to inform the public on its the monetary policy stance in the future. The use of this instrument was strengthened over the year, and was enriched with time frames. These actions signalled the willingness and capability of the Bank of Albania to fulfill its objective of price stability. The operational framework of the monetary policy did not undergo significant changes and the banking system was supplied with liquidity through traditional monetary policy instruments. The latter were adopted to better satisfy the needs of the banking system for liquidity.
The interest rate should normally be changed gradually so that we can assess the effects of interest rate changes and other new information about economic developments. Interest-rate setting must also be assessed in the light of developments in property prices and credit. It may also be useful to assess interest-rate setting in the light of some simple monetary policy rules. If the interest rate deviates systematically and substantially from simple rules, it should be possible to explain the reasons for this. These criteria are important guidelines in forecasting an interest rate that provides a reasonable balance in monetary policy. Of course, the criteria cannot provide a precise instruction as to how the interest rate should be set, but points to factors we should have taken into account and assessed. In some contexts, the various criteria may be in conflict. In these situations, it is particularly important to exercise judgment in the trade-off between the different objectives of monetary policy. Uncertainty surrounding future interest rate developments What I have said so far about interest rate forecasts have perhaps left the impression of an exaggerated belief in control. This was not my intention. Our recent history underscores that economic developments involve a great deal of uncertainty. Even if the Bank publishes a forecast for the interest rate, this does not mean that the interest rate will follow the forecast throughout the projection period.

A central element of the core model is that agents are forward-looking, reacting to expected economic developments. In recent years, a number of central banks have developed models of this type. However, it must be stressed that our core model and the models we develop only provide a very simplified description of reality. The Bank’s forecasts are based on a broad range of different sources of information, with judgment as a substantial component. Important elements in the assessment of what a good interest rate path is – and which underline the judgment component in this assessment – are reflected in six criteria that should be satisfied. 7 The criteria emphasise that if monetary policy is to anchor inflation expectations around the target, the interest rate must be set so that inflation moves towards the target. Inflation should be stabilised near the target within a reasonable time horizon, normally 1-3 years. Assuming that inflation expectations are anchored around the target, the inflation gap and the output gap should be in reasonable proportion to each other until they close. The inflation gap and the output gap should normally not be positive or negative at the same time further ahead. In addition, interest rate developments, particularly in the next few months, should result in acceptable developments in inflation and output also under alternative, albeit not unrealistic assumptions concerning economic developments and the functioning of the economy.
Now that is a combination worth having, and I think the only one worth having. Thank you. 17 / 17  BIS central bankers' speeches

While this may be a legitimate view, technology will nevertheless have an important impact on the kind of services that brokers are offering their corporate clients and what clients are prepared to pay for such services. In many emerging markets, the technology revolution is starting to gain more traction in the delivery of financial services, including insurance, following greater stability in internet connections, advancements in security and payments infrastructure and strengthened data protection frameworks in these markets. Correspondingly, brokers need to strategically review the strength of their value propositions in this changing environment and actively seek to lift their own services by leveraging on technology. These four reasons are just a few that should prompt the insurance broking community to reevaluate their business and operating strategies going forward. All of them – the fallout from the global financial crisis, Asia’s growth trajectory, the focus on climate risk, and more entrenched technological revolution in the delivery of financial services – are converging to re-define expectations, possibilities and risks in the insurance broking sector in a profound way that will determine if a firm will thrive or be marginalised in the coming decade. Going forward, brokers will be expected to play a far more significant role in delivering innovation and choice by developing deep knowledge of the industries that their clients operate in, and working with insurance providers to bring new products into the market that are meeting the changing needs of businesses.
This is a significant change in the parameterisation of a key macro-economic relationship for the setting of monetary policy. One way of explaining the intuition behind this steepening of the Phillips Curve is that market power reduces the degree of strategic complementarity in price-setting. In a product market closer to perfect competition, firms will be reluctant to raise prices fearful that, with other prices in the economy sticky, demand would fallaway sharply. By reducing the elasticity of demand, market power reduces this risk and thus gives rise to greater flexibility in prices – and hence a lower sacrifice ratio (for example, Ball and Romer (1990)). Let us now put this model into a stochastic setting, by assuming desired mark-ups fluctuate around a trend level according to some stationary stochastic process, log 𝜇𝑡 . These would now appear as cost-push disturbances in the Phillips curve:  𝑢𝑡 =  (1 − 𝜃)(1 − 𝛽𝜃) 1 − 𝛼 log 𝜇𝑡 𝜃 1 − 𝛼 + 𝛼𝜖  (7)  This tells us that, when mark-up shocks strike, a greater degree of market power will mean that a larger fraction of the shock will fall on prices than activity. A rise in market power, through its effect on the slope of the Phillips curve, will cause the Taylor output/inflation variability (policy possibility) frontier to rotate clockwise, with more of the burden following a shock felt by inflation than by output variability. 23  De Loecker and Eeckhout (2018).

Stocks in different companies in a variety of sectors, loans to governments and corporations, and real estate investments in a number of global cities are all parts of the portfolio. At the end of 2014, the fund had investments in securities from almost 10 000 issuers in 75 countries. The fund is a global investor. Prices in financial markets carry information about the risk and return prospects of different assets, and the markets are fairly efficient most of the time. Hence, a natural starting point for the allocation across regions is the size of the different financial markets. However, the weights assigned by the fund to different geographical regions are the result of a trade-off between various considerations. The fund is a minority shareholder and dependent on good corporate governance and protection of our rights in legal systems. Regulatory conditions in investee countries must be relatively stable, and we must be reasonably sure that our investments are safe. From the start in 1998, a large share of the fund was allocated to Europe. At that time, the emphasis was on exchange rate risk related to the trade pattern of the Norwegian economy. As European countries are our most important trading partners, Europe was overweighted compared with market weights. Three years ago, the Ministry of Finance concluded that exchange risk had diminished, partly due to increased globalisation. Consequently the fund’s overweight in Europe was reduced. At the same time, the allocation to emerging markets was increased.
It is not sustainable in the long term to have a wage development that entails the cost of labour increasing more than the value of the goods and services produced. This means that real wage costs can only increase at the same rate as productivity growth. The stronger the growth in productivity, the higher the wage costs can be without triggering inflation, as long as they take into account any reduction in working hours and other secondary wage costs. The basis for this reasoning is that the economy is in balance, which is characterised by, for instance, stable wage shares and profit shares. Profit shares - profits as a percentage of value added - have fluctuated around 30 per cent for the entire economy. Since 1995, real wage costs have risen more quickly than productivity growth and wage shares. This is not sustainable in the long run. It is necessary, in the long term, for wage shares and profit shares to be at a level where profitability in Sweden is on a par with our competitors to safeguard a level of capital formation and employment that will best promote the development of our welfare. 2  BIS Review 7/2003  A couple of different approaches/rules of thumb are used in the wage formation debate to evaluate the scope for wage increases in the long term, or to estimate a "wage cost norm".

Miroslav Singer: Central Bank Governor of the Year for Emerging Europe 2013 Acceptance speech by Mr Miroslav Singer, Governor of the Czech National Bank, at the Central Bank Governor of the Year for Emerging Europe 2013 awards, Washington DC, 12 October 2013. *  *  *  Let me start by thanking you for this award. I see it not so much as personal recognition, but more as recognition of the team of people that make up and define the Czech National Bank that I have the pleasure to represent here. Special thanks go to those I work with directly, among others to my colleagues on the board for their unlimited patience with my generally awful manners and attempts to claim leadership. Whenever I meet a group of investors or analysts, I always start by noting that any issues and questions requiring knowledge and wisdom would be better addressed by our experts, those requiring only wisdom would be better be fielded by my colleagues on the board, and those requiring neither knowledge nor wisdom can be safely left to me. So, let me share some of my knowledge- and wisdom-free observations with you. Ten years ago, when I was working in restructuring, I could never have imagined that I would join the central bank in less than two years and later rise to the top job there. But the offer came, and it was one I truly could not refuse.
In historical perspective, as you all know very well, the EU is a "sui generis" structure implying a legal, political and economic project of integration shaped around contemporary values. Quoting Prime Minister Tony Blair's own words; "This is a union of values, of solidarity between nations and people, of not just a common market in which we trade but a common political space in which we live as citizens." 1 On the other side, as Atatürk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, clearly stated; "the contemporary level of civilisation" has always been Turkey's main objective since its foundation as a republic out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. Therefore, considering the main principles of the EU and Turkey's desire to reach the contemporary level of civilisation, Turkey's everlasting willingness to be a member of the EU shouldn't be surprising. Accordingly, Turkey had applied to the EU for full membership in 1959. During these 46 years, governments with different political views have been in charge. Despite some delays, setbacks and obstacles in relations with the Union all over this period, our aim of full membership has never changed. Also, the majority of the Turkish society has always been supporting the main goal of full membership. In fact, 68 percent of the public who answered the most recent questionnaire of Euro Barometer in 2005 responded in favour of full membership. The second point I want to make is about the whole process leading to the eventual membership of Turkey to the EU.

News conference  Berne, 13 December 2018 Thomas Jordan  Introductory remarks by Thomas Jordan  Ladies and gentlemen It is a pleasure for me to welcome you to the Swiss National Bank’s news conference. I will begin by explaining our monetary policy decision and our assessment of the economic situation. I will then hand over to Fritz Zurbrügg, who will speak about developments in the area of financial stability. After that, Andréa Maechler will review the situation on the financial markets and will update you on the progress towards replacing Libor. Finally, we will – as ever – be pleased to take your questions. Monetary policy decision  Let me begin with our monetary policy decision and the inflation forecast. We are maintaining our expansionary monetary policy, thereby stabilising price developments and supporting economic activity. Interest on sight deposits held by banks at the SNB is to remain at –0.75% and the target range for the three-month Libor is also unchanged at between −1.25% and –0.25%. We will remain active in the foreign exchange market as necessary, while taking the overall currency situation into consideration. Since the monetary policy assessment of September 2018, the Swiss franc has depreciated slightly on a trade-weighted basis. This development is primarily due to the strengthening of the US dollar. The franc is virtually unchanged against the euro. Overall, the Swiss franc is still highly valued, and the situation on the foreign exchange market continues to be fragile.