samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
Denis Beau: Stablecoins - a good or a bad solution to improve our payment systems? Opening address by Mr Denis Beau, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of France, at the Stablecoin Conference “Which ambitions for Europe?”, organized by Paris Europlace and ConsenSys, Paris, 15 January 2020. * * * I would like to thank Valérie Fasquelle and Christian Pfister for their contributions to this speech. Ladies and gentlemen, The growing number and forms of crypto-assets in our payments landscape has triggered a significant and important debate about their virtues and risks, in case the role of these cryptoassets in our payment systems were to become less marginal than it currently is. The emergence of so-called “stablecoins” has brought additional fuel to this debate as they could bring to the market new settlement assets and payment schemes, which may compete against and possibly, according to their promoters, replace those in commercial and central bank money, currently at the centre of the functioning of our payment systems. In order to share with you a few thoughts on this debate, speaking as a central banker and a supervisor mindful of the benefits of innovation but also of the risks they could bring to financial and monetary stability, I will focus my remarks on two topics: Whether stablecoins can contribute to improving our payment landscape? How to respond to the public policy challenges they raise? 1 – Are stablecoins a brand new solution or a brand new problem? From my perspective, they can be both. Let me explain.

03.06.2019  A framework for the CCyB Opening address at the Second Financial Stability Conference (Banco de España /CEMFI) Pablo Hernández de Cos Governor  Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. It is a pleasure for me to welcome you to the Banco de España to participate in the Second Financial Stability Conference. As in the first edition, this event has been jointly organised by the Banco de España and the Centro de Estudios Monetarios y Financieros (CEMFI). So allow me to start by expressing my gratitude to the organisers, in particular Rafael Repullo, director of CEMFI, and to all the members of the scientific committee, responsible for promoting the conference and selecting the papers included in the programme. Let me also thank the keynote speakers, Agustín Carstens and Lars Peter Hansen, for their willingness to attend. And also the rest of the speakers, the discussants and, of course, the participants in the panel. It was difficult for the scientific committee to select the eleven papers that will be presented in these two days from the more than one hundred submissions received. In the end, in my view, a good balance has been reached in the programme. It combines excellent academic papers that will provide interesting insights into theoretical and empirical developments related to financial stability with policy issues on the most practical aspects of the organisation and governance structures of macroprudential policy.
(b) Assumes that 50% of bonuses are paid as CoCos and retained. Bonuses are assumed to equal 20% of total staff costs. (c) Contingent capital is assumed to be included in Tier 1 capital. (d) Assumes that 50% of dividends are paid as CoCos and retained. Chart 12: Cumulative amount of Tier 1 capital for major UK banks £ bn 300  Including dividends paid as cocos Including bonuses paid as cocos  250  Actual Tier 1 capital  200 150 100 50 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Sources: Annual accounts and Bank calculations Footnotes as per chart 11  BIS central bankers’ speeches  17  Table 1: Type I and Type II errors for Basel Regulatory Ratios and market-based capital measures Type I  Type II  Basel Regulatory ratios  50%  43%  Market capitalisation to book-value of total assets  21%  5%  Market capitalisation to book-value of debt  20%  11%  Market capitalisation to book-value of equity  10%  11%  Sources: Capital IQ and Bank calculations (a) A Type I error occurs when a bank’s ratio falls below the trigger level (calculated according to a loss function as described in charts 5–8) and capital is not required (defined as that bank not suffering a “crisis” over the next 365 days). The number in this column is the proportion of days when a Type I error occurs.

The dynamics of complex systems, such as large banks or interconnected financial webs, are not well understood. That means uncertainty needs to be taken seriously if financial regulatory frameworks are to be robust. Timeliness would be a third criterion. Complex systems often exhibit a knife-edge property, with discontinuities and tipping points a naturally-recurring feature.5 Those same features have punctuated the present financial crisis. In physics as in finance, once over the cliff-edge there is little chance of full recovery. That underscores the importance of timely, pre-emptive regulatory intervention if financial disaster is to be averted. (a)  Simplicity  How do existing regulatory rules compare against these criteria – simplicity, timeliness, robustness? Take simplicity. By any standard, existing regulatory rules are far from simple. For large banks, they can be highly complex. They have become more so over time given the evolution of the Basel framework. Back in the days of Basel I, calculating a regulatory capital ratio was not especially taxing or time-consuming. It involved little more than half a dozen calculations. These calculations could be conducted on the back of a small envelope by a competent clerk. Possessing envelopes and clerks, banks, regulators and market participants were able to perform those calculations. They were transparent and verifiable. In that way, regulatory rules (Pillar I) provided a solid platform for supervisory discretion by regulators (Pillar II) and market discipline by investors (Pillar III). The Basel pillars were mutually reinforcing. Basel II changed that calculus.
Lawrence Williams: An evolving financial services landscape in the Caribbean Welcome remarks by Mr Lawrence Williams, Governor of the Bank of Guyana, at the 30th Annual Conference of the Caribbean Group of Banking Supervisors, hosted by the Bank of Guyana, Georgetown, 24 May 2012. *  *  *  Chairman, Caribbean Group of Banking Supervisors, Mr. Ramnarine Lal Hon. Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, M.P. Hon. Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Bishop Juan Edghill, M.P. Deputy Governor Bank of Guyana, Dr. Gobind Ganga Banking Manager, Mr. Leslie Glen Conference Delegates Special Invitees Members of the Media It is indeed an honour for the Bank of Guyana to host the 30th annual conference of the Caribbean Group of Banking Supervisors under the theme “Regional supervisory imperatives in an evolving financial services landscape”. I wish to welcome all of the visiting delegates to our shores. I acknowledge the presence of the delegates from thirteen of the sixteen CGBS membership. Though our region is small, we are geographically dispersed and travelling to some territories can be a bit of a challenge. I am therefore pleased at the representation and sincerely hope that your stay will be pleasant and memorable.

I am also delighted to welcome to our shores and the conference the Secretary General of ASBA, Mr. Rudy Araujo, the Chief Representative of the BIS Office of the Americas, Mr. Gregor Heinrick, the Senior International Adviser of the Comptroller of the Currency, Mr. Lester Miller and Advisor on Economic Crimes in the US Treasury Department, Mr. Thomas Noller. I have no doubt that your considerable experiences will add value to this conference. It is also fitting that I welcome the Hon. Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh and the Hon. Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Bishop Juan Edghill. The importance of this Conference is underscored by the fact that both Ministers enthusiastically agreed to adjust their work schedules to be present at this opening ceremony with Dr. Singh consenting to deliver the feature address. Delegates and invitees can expect a very insightful presentation by the Minister. Ladies and gentlemen, the theme of the Conference refers to the evolving financial landscape which is quite evident in many tangible forms though not always easily manageable. As a matter of fact, the changing financial landscape has brought challenges almost every step of the way. It is a testimony to the quality of our regional banking supervisors and the support and nurturing provided by the Caribbean Group of Banking Supervisors over the years that our region met the challenges posed by the changing landscape and has remained safe and sound.
23  Innovations are reducing computational efforts to prove a transaction, such as Litecoin and Ethereum’s proposed moves to “proof of stake” from “proof of work”. 9  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  9  Authorities are rightly concerned that given their inefficiency and anonymity, one of the main reasons for their use is to shield illicit activities. 24  This cannot be condoned. Anarchy may reign on the dark web, but in the  UK it’s just a song that your parents used to listen to. Moreover, structural vulnerabilities in cryptocurrencies mean that they are inherently risky compared with traditional financial assets. The risks include extreme price volatility and poor market liquidity due to fragmented markets and highly concentrated holdings, which in turn facilitate manipulation and misconduct. These vulnerabilities are compounded by operational and technological weaknesses, as evidenced by a series of major crypto-asset heists. 25  In addition, there is unease that the combination of these vulnerabilities and widening retail participation could damage the reputations of those financial intermediaries connected to crypto-asset markets. In extreme circumstances, it could even undermine confidence in the broader financial system itself, particularly if people held an unfounded belief that authorities had legitimised these activities. To isolate, regulate or integrate? Authorities need to decide whether to isolate, regulate or integrate crypto-assets and their associated activities. A few jurisdictions have banned crypto-assets outright. 26  And some regulators have sealed off crypto-assets  from the core of the financial system in order to curtail risk of contagion.

Money unlocks the specialism of labour in the pin factory and “the great increase in the quantity of work that 2  results.” And only money can solve the coincidence of wants between the butcher, the brewer, the baker and the student on a Friday evening. 3  1  ‘Stabilising an unstable economy’ Hyman Minsky, 1986 This is the quote as abbreviated on the £ The full quote is “this great increase in the quantity of work which, in consequence of the division of labour, the same number of people are capable of performing”, Book 1, Chapter 1, Smith, A., (1776) ‘An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations’. 3 “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest”. Book 1, Chapter 2, ibid. 2  2  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  2  Many of you probably don’t see Adam Smith notes too often. Not just because you’re impoverished students. Or because you live in Scotland where you’re more likely to encounter Sir Walter Scott or Nan 4  Shepherd on a banknote when you do have cash. But because you use electronic forms of money such as debit cards and mobile phones for your everyday purchases and go online for your larger ones. A number of you may hold other forms of electronic money – crypto or virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Ether or Scotcoin.
For resolution to have maximum effectiveness, banks not only need to be able to meet the policy standards and have sufficient loss absorbing capacity. They need also to have the capabilities to be ready to implement a resolution, the legal and operational arrangements in place to avoid disruption to customers. It needs to be possible to restructure a firm so that it can be made viable post-resolution. So the next phase of work will focus on ensuring that major banks have and are able to demonstrate that they have the systems, documentation, assurance and controls necessary to support their resolvability. We intend to consult at the end of this year on the detail of this reporting and assurance framework. We envisage that it will require major UK banks to conduct a self-assessment of their resolvability – measured against the policies and standards that have been established nationally and internationally. In line with our commitment to Parliament, we would then publish our assessment of resolvability for the major UK banks, providing greater transparency over the key judgments of the Bank as Resolution Authority. In a similar vein the Bank envisages we may require that elements of firms’ self-assessments are made public – this would enable firm-specific progress on resolvability to be made more transparent. It is important to emphasise that this is the next step in the natural evolution of the resolution regime in the UK. The Bank has been formally assessing the resolvability of UK firms since 2014.

Hamad Al-Sayari: The “Banker” program in Saudi Arabia Speech by His Excellency Hamad Al-Sayari, Governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, in the Inauguration Ceremony of The "Banker" Program, at the Institute of Banking, Riyadh, 28 November 2006. *  *  *  Dear Brothers, I am pleased to welcome you all on this occasion in which we celebrate reaping another fruit of the joint cooperation between the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and the banks operating in the Kingdom, namely, the "Banker" program. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the participating banks and the Institute of Banking for their support and efforts for organizing and executing this ambitious program which aims at meeting the growing needs of the banking sector and qualifying job-seekers of the Saudi youth. As you know, the banking sector has witnessed over the past few years accelerated developments due to the economic growth seen by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. These developments have posed a great challenge to the banks and financial institutions as they had to expedite the provision and diversification of financial services to meet the increasing needs of the domestic market. The development of financial institutions must, undoubtedly, be paralleled with development in human resources. This, in turn, requires plans for training and qualifying cadres to enable financial institutions to undertake their important role in serving the national economy.
The benefits of these measures abound. For example, the fiscal deficit has been constrained to within the allowable limits of below 3% of GDP. Lower fiscal deficit coupled with prudent monetary policy have contributed to current low and stable inflation rate. As you are aware, annual inflation stood at 9.9% at end-December 2009 and further declined to close at 8.2% at end-July 2010. The growth in the economy has also been robust,  2  BIS Review 105/2010  underpinning the sustainability of policy reforms. Real economic growth has averaged above 5% for most part of the past decade. Concern has also been raised that Government borrowing competes with the private sector for scarce funds thereby pushing up interest rates and perpetuating the high cost of finance. However, in recent years, the Government has scaled down its domestic borrowing requirement in order to free resources for the private sector. On the other hand, due to banks appetite for risk free debt instruments, competition for government securities has intensified exerting a downward pressure on yield rates. Chairperson, these achievements attest to the importance Government attaches to reviving this economy and making Zambia a middle income country by the year 2030. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, part of the reason financial intermediation has been limited has been because of the inadequate supporting financial and legal infrastructure. A well developed financial infrastructure is essential for fostering investor participation and expanded access to financial services.

All stakeholders stand to benefit from a rich database as credit providers will have a good basis to adequately assess the credit worthiness of their existing and potential customers with a view to providing properly priced products and services. Chairperson, the Government has also created the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) in order to enable small businesses with viable investment projects have access to finance. I would personally like to see an increased flow of credit to our SMEs which, as many of you know, have been routinely found to be a major source of growth in any market economy. This is more so as the larger part of our productive population, particularly those in the informal sector, is in fact employed in one way or the other in these SMEs. It is therefore strategic for us in the financial advisory arena to support our brothers and sisters who run these SMEs. By ensuring that credit flows in that direction, we can then be assured that more and more of our people who are engaged in SMEs will certainly have access to financial services like everybody else. In the process, growth generated from the SMEs can sustainably offer the much needed respite from mineral dependency. Ladies and Gentlemen, for Government initiatives to be effective there is need to integrate them into the mainstream financial system. In this regard, financial reforms must continue to evolve and be dynamic in order to address the main challenges still facing the Zambian financial markets.
12103 6 For further details please refer to https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/speech/2017/changing-risk-and-the-search-for-yield-on-solvency-2capital 7 Financial Stability Report, December 2016, Bank of England. 5  5  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  5  insurers have used internal securitisations backed by their equity release mortgage portfolios in order to create a senior tranche with the required fixed cashflows. Let us dig a little deeper into the Matching Adjustment. In principle, the higher discount rate on liabilities is intended to reflect the component of the spread over risk-free rates that compensates other investors for risks to which the insurers are not exposed. In the case of bonds, this is the liquidity premium for the risk that they might have to sell into secondary bond markets at a time when credit spreads are wide. Annuity writers are not exposed to this risk and can therefore earn the liquidity premium provided they can bear the credit risk and hold the assets until maturity. Mechanically, however, the Matching Adjustment is not calculated by estimating directly the market premium for any risks to which insurers are not exposed. Rather it is calculated indirectly as a residual by subtracting from the yield on an asset (1) risk-free rates and (2) an estimate of the required premium for risks to which insurers are exposed. In the case of bonds, insurers are exposed to the credit risk that the issuer is unable 8  to pay interest or principal at maturity.

On data due diligence, it seems obvious to say that insurers should not enter into bulk purchase transactions without understanding in some depth the nature of the annuity liabilities they are taking on. But this is an area where we see firms taking different approaches and willing to price with different levels of risks. One particular aspect is whether insurers have a full picture of their potential obligations to pensioner spouses and dependents. Insurers need to be clear about their appetite in relation to data risks. Most of the longevity risk on new transactions is currently being reinsured, often outside of the UK. 2  Estimates of BPA market from LCP and Towers Watson market reports 2  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/speeches  2  One reason is to mitigate the impact of the risk margin. As Sam Woods and I have said before, we recognise that the risk margin on long-dated insurance risks such as longevity is too sensitive to the level of interest rates and therefore too high currently. We are actively looking at further steps available to us within the constraints of Solvency II to address this issue. We expect that a more appropriate level of risk margin – similar to that envisaged when Solvency II was negotiated – would lead to a better balance between longevity risk being retained and reinsured by UK insurers on new business. While significant reinsurance continues, insurers should be paying close attention to counterparty and operational risks.
This workshop will provide an opportunity for all GCC organizations in the statistical community to share national experiences, and lead discussions to identify areas for mutual cooperation for further improvement in data production and presentation. I may emphasize here that timely availability of reliable and mutually consistent national data would be of great help to the GCC Monetary Council in its task of preparing for the achievement of the ultimate goal of GCC Monetary Union. It will also provide the basis for judicious policy formulations even after the establishment of the Monetary Union for the region. I therefore urge you all, to actively engage in workshop discussions to fully understand these matters, come to useful conclusions and make your deliberations fruitful. Dear Participants I hope that by the end of the workshop you will have achieved at least the following two objectives: 1. Sufficient statistical insight to effectively address burgeoning data-related issues and concerns, and be in a position to produce intended statistical forms and table, and;  2. Identification of some future work based on mutual cooperation. I thank you all for your attention and wish all a productive and rewarding workshop. 2  BIS Review 170/2010

The project of Borika AD for immediate payments in BGN, based on the requirements of the SEPA scheme for immediate credit transfers, is in an advanced stage of development. As an operator of the real-time gross settlement payment system (RINGS), the BNB assists in the implementation of the project. The company’s ambition is in 2021 for payment service providers in Bulgaria to start providing their customers with immediate credit transfers in BGN. In order to develop innovative, affordable, secure and convenient payment solutions both in the online environment and in physical stores, it is important to provide an interoperable infrastructure that allows the smooth execution of cross-border immediate payments within the EU, as well as the achievement of additional standardization to ensure compatibility between final payment solutions offered to payment service users (eg common standard for QR codes, provision of access to NFC chips in mobile phones, etc.). These, as well as other aspects related to technological changes in the field of payments, including the risks arising from unregulated services, especially technical ones, which are ancillary to the provision of regulated payment services, I wish interesting and fruitful work to the participants in the videoconference. 1 Opinion of the European Banking Authority on obstacles under Article 32 (3) of the RTS on SCA and CSC  2/2  BIS central bankers' speeches