samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Looking out for the policyholder Speech given by Sam Woods, Deputy Governor, Prudential Regulation and Chief Executive Officer, Prudential Regulation Authority  Association of British Insurers Annual Conference 2018, London 27 February 2018  I am grateful to Rebecca Pu for her assistance in preparing this speech and to other colleagues for comments and contributions. 1  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  I will begin this speech with a bold claim: insurance regulation is fun! This is just as well, because it is half of what we do at the PRA. Parliament very wisely decided to put prudential regulation of banks and insurers together in one institution following the financial crisis. I think this works very well, because there are many synergies. Both sectors provide critical services to the real economy, bringing customers’ money directly onto their balance sheets. And I would argue, for instance, that the basic qualities which make a good chairperson aren’t materially different between banking and insurance. But there are also very big differences. An annuity writer is nothing like a building society. London Market underwriters I have sat next to do a very, very different thing to what goes on in banks. The eighty actuaries we employ as part of our insurance division speak a different language from our risk specialists sat on the floor above them at 20 Moorgate. Much of the time, this insurance activity goes on underneath the radar, relative to banking.

The combination of a strong exchange rate (still about 25% above its level of August 1996), a 20% fall in dollar oil prices over the past year, and an average fall of 9.5% in other commodity prices, is holding down retail price inflation. Domestically generated inflation is significantly higher than RPIX inflation. As the one-off effects of the rise in sterling wear off over the course of the next year or so - as indeed they will unless sterling appreciates further - inflation will start to rise above the target unless domestically generated inflation declines. In the long run, domestically generated inflation is likely to be close to the rate of increase of unit labour costs. At present unit labour costs are rising at about 3½% a year. The earnings figures released earlier this month - which showed that average earnings in the economy grew by 4.9% and in the private sector by no less than 5.6% - were undoubtedly disappointing. It is too soon to judge how far they reflect the impact of higher bonuses this year than last. In any event, to hit the inflation target those rates of earnings growth will have to fall back. These high levels of earnings growth are not the underlying cause of inflationary pressure; they are a symptom of a tight labour market. Equally, the prospects for earnings growth depend critically on the future path of output and on inflation expectations.
In ibadah (worship), there are times when differences of opinions become a blessing as they provide us a way out of a difficulty in performing a particular act of worship. In addition, specific act of worship deals with our relationship with Allah. Even in the history of Islamic civilisation, the differences in opinions and views were the main reasons for the Islamic civilisation to progress rapidly. In the context of the muamalat, differences of views would be more prevalent due to the diversity in the background, culture, and society that will inevitably result in various interpretations on a particular issue. On one hand, this could be deemed positive as it broadens the scope for Shariah scholars to make references and to understand the reasons and wherefores of the Shariah law. On the other hand, in the context of muamalat, it may lead to difficulties in managing transactions given that different interpretations may hamper parties to contract seamlessly. This is particularly evident in an Islamic financial system that is regulated by the central bank that usually places emphasis on standardising in its policies and market practices as to ensure consistency in compliance among the financial institutions. In this regard, I would like to suggest the following points which could serve as basis for the solutions to the impediments that I have mentioned earlier: i. This Dialogue should strive for all scholars to agree on important Shariah issues that can be used as basis and guidance for the industry practitioners.

This change requires the readiness of Shariah scholars to play a greater role and to interact with others from various disciplines to enrich and enhance ijtihad with new perspectives, against the backdrop of a contemporary  BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  landscape. This innovation will only be generated through the openness of minds and a paradigm shift, based on sound understanding of the Shariah objectives. As the vanguard of Islamic finance, it is the responsibility of Shariah scholars to promote best practices in the Shariah fraternity through an inclusive and contemporary ijtihad, in line with the rapidly evolving operating environment. Finally, I pray that the discussions will run smoothly and will achieve the intended objectives. On this note, I end my speech with the words of Imam Ibn Taymiyyah,: “Surely among the main thrusts in a religion is the union of hearts, the unison of views and easing of disputes conducted in a good way.” Wabillahi taufik wal hidayah. Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Thank you. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches
If no referendum is sought, we assume that the Federal Council will put the new Law into force on 30 April 2004, i.e. the date of our Annual General Meeting. The new Law will modernise the legal framework of the National Bank. It lays down the mandate of the Swiss National Bank in detail, guarantees the SNB independence in its decision-making, regulates its accountability vis-à-vis the Federal Council and Parliament and strengthens the supervisory powers of the Bank Council. The latter will no longer consist of 40 members as at present; it will comprise only 11 members, six of whom are elected by the Federal Council and five by the SNB’s Annual General Meeting. The new Bank Council will be constituted on the day of our Annual General Meeting. The new Law extends the National Bank’s room for manoeuvre on the operational level. Until now, the Law laid down exactly what assets the SNB was permitted to invest in and what securities were eligible as collateral in Lombard business. In future, the National Bank will be responsible for making these decisions itself. At the time when the new Law enters into force, we shall publish two directives. One will spell out the technical preconditions for our monetary operations; the other will set out how we shall use our extended investment policy scope. My colleague, Philipp Hildebrand, in his address will present our first ideas on this subject.

With the present fiscal stimulus no longer a factor, however, economic growth is likely to slow down distinctly again next year but should remain robust. We still anticipate an upswing in the EU in the coming year. It is probable, however, that it will take slightly longer to close the output gap than we assumed as recently as September. Inflationary pressure from abroad will thus remain moderate although inflation in other countries will not recede as markedly either in the coming year as we expected three months ago. Furthermore, we anticipate a decline in the price of oil to approximately USD 25 per barrel in the course of 2004. On the assumption that the three-month Libor rate will remain stable at 0.25% during the next three years, inflation should average 0.4% in 2004, 1.0% in 2005 and 2.3% in 2006. The inflation trend according to the new forecast will exceed the September forecast until mid-2005. Until the end of 2004, inflation is likely to remain fairly stable at around 0.5% and to fluctuate only slightly due to basis effects. The new forecast shows that the threat of negative inflation rates has diminished. This is the result of an improvement in the global economy and of the less marked decline in inflation abroad, as also of the weaker Swiss franc vis-à-vis the euro. As from the beginning of 2005, inflation will show a rising trend due to the expansionary monetary policy we took as an assumption.
The decentralised nature of the Eurosystem is an asset especially for communications with the general public. The Governors address in their country their national public in their own language. They are very well placed to participate in economic debates taking place in their home country. Finally, the ECB publishes a large array of statistics, adding essential information on the euro area available to financial markets and all other interested agents. There has been an ongoing process of extending the number of statistical series released by the ECB, which I expect to continue in the future. As a latest example, last week we have published for the first time a press release providing a geographical breakdown of balance of payments and international investment position statistics. Our concept of transparency Transparency serves our main objective of maintaining price stability. As we are a unique institution which has no precedent we have to consider very carefully the appropriate concept of transparency in our decision-making. We are convinced that as a collective body it is beneficial for the Governing Council to give its collegial assessment in the form of a comprehensive and detailed statement rather than only stating the decision and letting the interested parties wait for the detailed statement to be published later in the form of minutes. Our method of real-time communication on behalf of the Governing Council also goes to demonstrate that we are collectively accountable to the public.

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.
The basic banking account has no minimum balance requirement and offers free ATMs and debit cards to those who qualify. The scheme is expected to roll out by October this year. The Bank of Thailand is also undergoing regulatory reform to review outdated rules and regulations, to facilitate ease of doing business and ensure that our regulations do not impede competition and innovation and contribute to high costs of financial services. We started with foreign exchange regulations last year and are now reviewing banking regulations to improve digital banking environment and SME financing. In addition, the current backdrop of high household debt in Thailand and the need to improve individual’s financial safety net necessitate an overall improvement in financial literacy as well as financial planning skill. We have also tightened our market conduct regulations to ensure that misselling is minimized and financial institutions provide fair and transparent products and services. Given the growing importance of digital technology for financial services, we must also make sure that those with lower skills can reap the benefits that technology brings, to avoid digital divide. Last but not least, creating a financial ecosystem that values sustainability is critical to ensure that the Thai financial system of the future can continue to develop in such a way that would benefit all segments of the society and create minimal negative externalities. Later this month, the Bank of Thailand will host the first Bangkok Sustainable Banking Forum.

Spotlight: Developing a Financial System for the Future Speech by Dr. Veerathai Santiprabhob Governor of the Bank of Thailand Bloomberg ASEAN Business Summit July 12, 2018, Siam Kempinski Hotel, Bangkok Thailand Distinguished guests, Ladies and gentlemen, A very good morning to you all. It is my pleasure to be here today and take part in this event. First of all, I would like to thank Bloomberg for organizing this exciting conference and for inviting me to share with you my thoughts on “Developing a Financial System for the Future.” It is a timely and important topic as I am sure that most of us have been pondering how, in this age of disruptions, the financial system will develop to support economic growth while at the same time preserve financial stability. Ladies and gentlemen, In this VUCA world of high volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, Thailand’s economy, like other emerging economies, is facing new challenges. Monetary policy normalization in advanced economies, record-high debt levels in many parts of the world, stretched global asset valuation, and risks of an all-out trade war are posing immediate challenges to the stability of our financial systems. At the same time, technology disruption, aging society, and growing income inequality are also presenting structural challenges to many emerging economies, including Thailand.
In the case of the CBC, our Facilidad de Crédito Condicional al Incremento de las Colocaciones–FCIC1 and FCIC2 facilities–have committed about 15% of GDP support to bank lending. Banks have used these facilities and government guarantees to support massive rollover of debts falling due, a robust flow of lending for working capital with a focus of small and medium-sized enterprises that far exceeds historical figures. This is making the current recession the first one to be accompanied by an increase, not constraint, of corporate lending. •  Yet what may be more meaningful to this workshop, we have engineered such a robust response to the crisis without compromising some key components of our policy framework. In particular, we have maintained full convertibility of our currency, we kept FX intervention to a minimum, and we have avoided constraining capital flows in any way. In the face of large portfolio rebalancing needs, CBC actions have pointed at providing liquidity, reduce frictions and contain uncertainty. And while we have kept ourselves very busy in dealing with these shocks and turns of the crisis, we have never compromised our commitment to our mandates of keeping inflation low and preserving financial stability. •  I am sure that no currency has joined CLS in a more challenging environment than this, and that no Central Bank has provided a stronger proof of commitment to principles shared by CLS. •  Finally, I believe that the recent events should feed into the way banks assess the value in participating in CLS.

Central Bank of Chile July 2020  “The Chilean Peso as an Eligible CLS Currency: Second Workshop CLS-CBC” Opening remarks by Mario Marcel, Governor of the Central Bank of Chile July 21st, 2020 – Santiago, Chile (via WebEx) I.  Welcoming remarks  Good morning everybody and welcome to the second joint workshop between CLS and the Central Bank of Chile (CBC) dedicated to the “Nostro” service, a fundamental business in the CLS payment system operation. This event is part of the process of incorporating a new currency into the CLS System. This belongs to the due diligence and analysis phase that CLS and the CBC are respectively finalizing. Then we should move to the implementation phase. This workshop complements the provision of information on CLS and the bilateral meetings that bankers have been holding with CLS and the CBC for some time, to assist banks in assessing the benefits, prospects and opportunities in participating in the system, either as a Settlement Member or Nostro. I am looking forward to the banking sector’s active participation in this workshop that features representatives of the Nostro banks and CLS experts. II. The Chilean Peso incorporation process  •  The process of incorporating the Chilean Peso in CLS, started last year when we sent the Letter of Intention to CLS to demonstrate our commitment to the process and initiate the engagement stage.
In this regard, I would like to point out that market is more aware and conscious that digitalisation is the future, as a consequence of the technological revolution taking place in each field of life, in the perspective of their strategic development, in the context of minimizing the costs and risks borne by traditional practices, and at the same time for increasing the effective productivity. Without wishing to repeat the previous statements, I consider it worthily to point out that all market actors should be seen as our strategic partners, who in their own way have always 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  contributed to the financial inclusion and promotion of electronic payment services. Until a few years ago, paying utility bills, fines, tax payments, customs and social security via the internet and mobile seemed a utopia. Nowadays, the general public is increasingly employing and benefiting from these services. Allow me to provide some significant figures which best converge to the materialisation of this development. In 2012, about 96% of transfers were initiated in paper form at banks’ windows, while today about 50% of transfers are processed remotely. If we include in the calculations the card payments, it turns out that 79% of payments and transfers are made remotely and only 21% in bank branches. From this point of view, I deem that banks remain committed to accommodate the needs of the e-Albania platform, both in the existing conditions and after the creation of “open banking".

Gent Sejko: Digitalisation vs cash Speech by Mr Gent Sejko, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the Albanian Association of Banks (AAB) Forum on “Digitalisation vs cash”, Pristina, 14 June 2022. * * * Honourable Deputy Prime Minister Ahmetaj, Honourable Minister of Finance and Economy Ibrahimaj, Dear Chairman of the Albanian Association of Banks, Dear guests, It is a pleasure to attend this Forum, which comes naturally as a further step and logical consequence of the joint discussions and round tables on digitalisation of financial services. I would like to highlight that the support and promotion of electronic payments, both in international experiences and the Albanian context, are seen as one of the most effective and powerful mechanisms for bolstering financial inclusion and further formalizing the economy. In this context, despite the discussions and needs for interaction and developments from the actors, it appears like the objectives and targets are increasingly converging, and in turn the created synergy, absolutely, will drive to an acceleration towards the meeting of the stated objectives. In this framework, there should be underscored that the Bank of Albania has already established the effective premises for the foundation of a digital revolution in the payment market, through the legal and regulatory framework in force. This framework may be considered avant-garde in the context of the European Union. Meanwhile, at regional level, Albania is the first country that has approved the legal and regulatory framework coupled with the promotion of “open banking” in the market.
This is also a perspective that needs to be included in the discussion of distributional effects and monetary policy. Finally, my view is that overall resource utilisation in the Swedish economy has now passed normal levels and can be expected to rise even higher in the coming years. At the same time, we see ahead of us that inflation will rise towards the target. It is therefore probable that the Riksbank sooner or later will first ease up on the accelerator and then begin using the brake. In my opinion, it is wise to start thinking now about how such a scenario will play out. Monetary policy will then be unable to stimulate activity and the labour market in the same way as in recent years and this will of course also have distributional effects. It is important that focus is then aimed at other policy areas, where the responsibility for distributional issues is more natural. 12 [14]  References Amaral, Pedro (2017), Monetary Policy and Inequality. Economic Commentary, 2017-01, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. Bank of England (2012), The distributional effects of asset purchases. Quarterly Bulletin 2012Q3. Bengtsson, Niklas, Edin, Per-Anders and Holmlund, Bertil (2014), Löner, sysselsättning och inkomster – ökar klyftorna i Sverige? (Wages, employment and income – are the gaps increasing in Sweden?) Report to the Swedish Fiscal Policy Council 2014/1. Dir.2016:114, Review of the monetary policy framework and the Sveriges Riksbank Act, committee terms of reference. Ministry of Finance. Domanski, Dietrich, Scatigna, Michela and Zabai, Anna (2016), Wealth inequality and monetary policy.

Now let’s turn to what monetary policy should/can do  I would like to mention four challenges: First challenge: if the factors at play are global, what can domestic policies do? CBs have domestic mandates whereas the prevalence of lowflation and low rates suggests that some common or external factors may be at play. This is especially problematic for smaller open economies. And the existence of a “global financial cycle” à la Rey highlights the limits of flexible exchange rates in insulating those economies. Ultra-accommodative policies in AEs have definitely had spillover effects on EMEs, including the often-forgotten –albeit welcome- reduction of spreads in the latter, as shown by IMF research. Nevertheless, the formulation and stance of policies in one country can take account of feedback effects from others. And it goes without saying that the world at large would have been even worse off if AEs had fallen into deflation. Aside from building and using forex reserves, domestic policies should therefore contribute towards making the domestic real economy and its financial system more resilient to external shocks. In this regard, prudential policy aimed at building buffers or protecting financial institutions may complement monetary policy, provided these measures do not conceal a form of protectionism or an attempt at deglobalization. Second challenge: what should the inflation target and its horizon be?