samchain/econo-pairs-v1 huggingface dataset:
To briefly illustrate the current state of play of our supervisory practices, I would like to mention the “suptech” approach underway at the ACPR: the supervisory authority’s aim is to take advantage of innovation to better carry out its missions at the best cost for the community and thus prepare the supervision methods for tomorrow’s financial processes. To date, four tools developed in intrapreneurship with the support of the Banque de France’s Lab, our space dedicated to innovation, have been created and should concretely increase the efficiency of our supervisors. But I would like to focus for a moment on the contribution that we can make, as a central bank and supervisory authority, to the development of the regulatory framework. In this area, I think it is important to recall a few principles that underpin our vision as a supervisor and central banker with regard to the changes in the regulatory framework of the financial system. First of all, I would like to stress that no regulatory framework is set in stone. We must keep an open mind, and have the necessary understanding and lucidity to adapt frameworks to technological evolutions - or even revolutions -, as well as to their challenges and associated risks. Secondly, this adaptation must, in my view, preserve and consolidate two fundamentals of financial sector regulation: the financial stability objective and the principle of monetary sovereignty.

Yet in 2015, fewer than 5% of French companies and 6% of individuals had some form of cyber-insurance.3 Insurers can and should take inspiration from their own experiences in tackling cyber-risk, and use it to develop a more mature 1  Sources: Fédération Bancaire Française; Observatoire 2016 de l’image des banques, published by BVA and based on a survey conducted in May 2016, and Observatoire 2015. 2 Source: European Commission’s Digital Economy and Society Index. 3 Source: Le marché de la cyber-assurance : la révolution commence maintenant, PwC, January 2016. 3  French and European cyber-insurance offering. Second subject: data and big data, with the spread of connected objects that is triggering an exponential rise in the amount of data available on insurance policyholders. Naturally this represents an opportunity: the traditional business of insurance consists precisely in collecting and exploiting data in order to quantify and put a price on risk. Nonetheless, I would urge insurers to take a responsible approach: we need to strike the right balance between segmentation and the sharing of risk between policyholders – the basic principles of solidarity and risk-pooling that are intrinsic to insurance are at stake. And we must not lose sight of our collective values regarding individuals’ right to privacy. 3. What are the challenges for the French and European economy? Let me just remind you of two basic economic facts: there can be no lasting growth without a rise in productivity; and there can be no productivity without innovation and its diffusion.
A very important part of the decisions concerning solutions to a financial crisis in a bank is taken by the guarantee funds. At least five of the board’s seven members must approve such support measures. Five of the board members are appointed by the general meeting of the member banks, while the Banking, Insurance and Securities Commission and Norges Bank each appoints one member. Support measures require the approval of a majority of the members appointed from the member banks. The decision to widen the remit of the guarantee funds was based on the experience of the Norwegian banking crisis. Supplying capital from the guarantee funds proved to be a “cheaper” and more effective means of resolving the crisis than referring the solvency problems directly to the authorities. The government shall provide capital support when financial problems in financial institutions threaten financial stability. How this is to be done must be assessed when such a situation arises. During the banking crisis, the government injected capital through the Government Bank Insurance Fund. It has been announced that the Fund is to be discontinued. Generally, developments since 1992 have reduced the need for government intervention in the event of new crises in the financial system. •  The banks have more equity capital than earlier. •  The banks’ guarantee funds accumulate a higher level of capital. •  The establishment of foreign banks in Norway and increased foreign borrowing by Norwegians in foreign banks has improved the distribution of risk.

For better or for worse, we are increasingly exposed to developments in other countries. The banking crisis taught us how costly financial crises can be. We brought the crisis on ourselves. Many other countries have experienced similar problems. The root of the crises can be traced back to overly zealous financial market participants with reduced risk awareness. The authorities’ role is to prevent crises in the financial system and - if they still occur - handle them with a view to reducing the adverse effects and the likelihood of their recurring. In view of the globalisation of financial markets, international cooperation in this area is crucial. The financial system is also important with regard to Norges Bank’s conduct of monetary policy. By setting the terms for banks’ deposits/loans in the central bank, Norges Bank influences the level of interest rates. Monetary policy is also dependent on financial stability. However, monetary policy is not the topic today. I will focus on the issue of financial stability. 2. What is financial stability? Financial stability is the absence of financial crises. The root of a crisis is that exuberance, optimism and greed take precedence over risk and return considerations when investment decisions are taken. The price of financial assets and property rises. Bank loans and household and corporate debt increase. As a result, all agents become more vulnerable if the situation is perceived as taking a turn for the worse. This may in turn trigger a plunge in property and equity prices.
In contrast, Hungary and Poland have tried to prevent the inevitable real appreciation of their currencies by continually depreciating their nominal exchange rates in reflection of their higher rates of inflation. Polish policy became less accommodating last year, and Hungary may be set to follow. Of course, an exchange rate peg is far more credible if a country has sizeable foreign exchange reserves. The Baltic states were fortunate in this respect as they regained access to the gold held by their central banks in London and Paris before the War; and Estonia and Lithuania have gone as far as to fix their exchange rates rigidly in a currency board system which removes discretion from monetary policy. (Note that these countries too are experiencing real appreciation: annual inflation is nearly 15% despite their fixed exchange rates.) The IMF is now encouraging Bulgaria to follow suit and adopt a currency board as the central bank there has not been able to impose a sufficiently tight monetary policy in the face of lack of progress on other aspects of reform. But the currency board can only succeed as part of a comprehensive package of fiscal and structural measures. The strict monetary policy rules of a currency board can work well if fiscal policy is highly responsible - or will become so as a result of the currency board; if not, it may put severe strains on the banking system, as has been the case in the Baltic states.

This creates fear and the obvious need to fight and prevent them. But common crimes do not involve huge monetary benefits. They are therefore less likely to be compromised in the law enforcement process. On the other hand, economic crimes generally do not have direct immediate impact on the publics' lives and properties because of their non-violent nature. Hence, such crimes do not receive public attention and could easily be excused as non-priority cases. Furthermore, the enormous financial benefits gained from economic crimes usually made it possible for the perpetrators to exploit their financial powers to intervene in the law enforcement process thus keeping this matter away from public scrutiny. People who are behind economic or financial crimes are usually quite smart and sophisticated. They tend to make use of their financial resources to build extensive connections in various organizations involved in the law enforcement process as well as the political system. Thus, quite different from fighting common crimes, the authorities combating economic crimes also have to fight the interferences from influential powers, which often times are far more difficult than the investigation itself. It is clear that in order to effectively fight against economic and financial crimes in any society, a strong political will and full commitment of the government is needed. The government must also recognize  BIS Review 29/2005  1  that economic and financial crimes are vicious and destructive enemies of the country, which need to be unreservedly eradicated and prevented in every way possible.
The aggregate capital adequacy ratio sits at a comfortable level slightly above 13% (the minimum 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  value is 8%). We estimate that current capital stock is worth 1.8 trillion rubles, which is sufficient to boost lending. Banks’ nominal profits have recovered to the pre-crisis level of roughly one trillion rubles, though real profits are still below the pre-crisis readings. In relation to 2013 prices, profits are still 30% lower. We expect banks to use their profits to boost growth in the banking business, and to step up lending. To do so, they should convert the bulk of their profits into capital. Currently, financial statements suggest that 88% of profits will be converted into capital. I hope that the final figure, after profit allocation between shareholders has occurred, will not differ greatly. Furthermore, banks’ profits increased by 212 billion rubles in the first two months of 2017, a growth rate 2.5 times that of the same period of the previous year. Despite the fact that the current situation in the banking system is quite good, we believe that changes are brewing, which will allow the banking system to more efficiently meet citizens’ demand and economic development objectives. Both bills which we consider to be pivotal - the proportional banking regulation bill and the new resolution mechanism bill - have passed the first reading at the State Duma.

Likewise, the impulse by the fiscal sector is expected to be lower than in the past year. Under these circumstances, the growth speed and rate of the economy at home will be determined largely by the performance of private domestic demand components: consumption and investments. Our analyses reveal the existence of room for higher growth in the future. This growth will be supported also by stimulating monetary and financial conditions, in response to the monetary policy of the Bank of Albania. *** Taking into account the above overview, the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania deemed that the inflationary pressures remain subdued over the monetary policy horizon. The output gap will continue to be negative in the period ahead, materialising in low inflationary pressures originating from domestic demand. Moreover, inflationary pressures from developments in the global economy are expected to be downward, whereas inflation expectations remain anchored. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches  The expected performance of real and monetary indicators is reflected in projections for the inflation, which is expected to range within the target of the Bank of Albania for the period ahead. At the conclusion of discussions, the Supervisory Council decided to keep the key interest rate unchanged at 4.50%. This decision serves to comply with our medium-term inflation target and provides the appropriate monetary conditions to stimulate Albania’s economic activity. The Bank of Albania remains heedful to future economic and financial developments at home and abroad as well as diligent to accomplish its mandate. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3
Among other things, it is the collaboration in these organisations that opened the road for the economic development we are seeing today. It is also in the first place within these organisations that the countries of the world discuss how the gains from globalisation shall benefit everyone. The World Bank is a development organisation, whose main purpose is to reduce poverty in the world. Every year, the World Bank lends the equivalent of roughly 200 billion Swedish crowns (25 billion US dollars), to finance several thusand projects in water sanitation, combating AIDS, vaccination, etc. The World Trade Organisation, WTO, that has replaced GATT, is working to remove tariffs, import quotas and other trade barriers. The increased world trade that I recently mentioned is largely a product of the work that has taken place in this forum. 3  BIS Review 78/2000  The organisation and purpose of the IMF The IMF can be characterised as a financial “club”. It is an association of countries that share their experiences and help one another during crises, among other ways by lending one another money from a common fund. Influence in this club - in the form of voting rights on the IMF board - is quota-based and reflects among other things the amount of capital the member countries have provided. The background to this is that the creditors in the IMF wish to have a reasonable control of how their money is used. Not least to be able to justify this to taxpayers in their home countries.

An important part of the IMF’s work with debt management in the poor countries is therefore to strive for the resources that are released in the country are invested long-term and in a way that benefits all the population. Research shows that IMF lending and programs are successful. In the years a program is implemented, and the countries save to finance their deficits, growth is normally decreased a bit. After a few years, the countries can however reap the fruits of a more stable economy, in terms of lower inflation and higher growth. Successful programs also have a positive effect on social policy in the countries. Expenditure on education and healthcare in the poorest program countires increased by four per cent per capita between 1985 and 1998, and these areas now account for a larger share of the government budgets. Countries with IMF programs have seen more children in schools, increased literacy and access to clean water, and lower child mortality. 5  BIS Review 78/2000  Swedish participation in the IMF Sweden is one of the creditor countries in the IMF. In the board we share a seat together with the seven other Nordic and Baltic countries. As well as other country groups, we have an office in Washington with representatives who work full time on pursuing our interests on the board. I worked at this office myself for over four years as Nordic-Baltic representative in the board.
Independence in the use of instruments – a premise for stability of the value of money A number of considerations weigh in favour of setting objectives and delegating tasks to government institutions. This can ease the central authorities’ workload. The central government can also seek to ensure that government agencies fulfil their responsibilities by giving them clear objectives and instruments. Furthermore, clear objectives and delegation of tasks may enhance predictability for other economic agents. In economic policy it is commonly argued that certain long-term objectives can be achieved only if short-term considerations are not allowed to influence the use of policy instruments. 33 This is the case for monetary policy and inflation targeting. 34 There may be a desire to achieve higher, yet unsustainable, growth in output and employment through a low interest rate. But economic agents are aware of this temptation. If they cannot be confident that the key rate is set to ensure stable inflation, they will expect higher inflation over time. The  31  Kjell Storvik, Governor of Norges Bank from 1994 to1999, stated in a lecture at FOREX NORWAY on 28 August 1998: “I would point to the well-known fact that a lower krone exchange rate may contribute to fuelling inflation expectations and that such expectations may in turn generate expectations of a weakening of the krone exchange rate, thereby reinforcing depreciation pressures. Price expectations may thus prove to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I am not sure which of these three scenarios will happen or whether a fourth scenario will emerge, as the current situation is something we have never experienced before. However, what I am certain is that since the outlook for macro economic and financial environment is very uncertain, it is highly possible that we will continue to see large fund inflows and outflows as well as sharp fluctuations in the financial markets. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to ask everyone to stay alert to the risks ahead and be aware that the current environment is highly abnormal and uncertain. We should all take precautionary measures and get to the bottom of the problem, learn from others’ experiences and avoid overstretching ourselves. Otherwise, we may find ourselves being trapped in the debt abyss with no way out. Thank you. BIS central bankers’ speeches  5
A major step forward was taken last year in the concurrent stress-testing of banks across Europe. This followed the successful practice first adopted in the US in 2009. Concurrent stress-testing of the whole banking sector allows both top-down and bottom-up perspectives to be brought to bear when assessing individual firms’ risks. This opens up the possibility of taking seriously complex behavioural interactions, both within the financial sector and between it and the wider economy. For example, a capital-deficient firm might withdraw funding and cause wider liquidity pressures for other banks. Or a sequence of capital-deficient banks might contract lending in a credit crunch, thereby damaging the wider economy and feeding back negatively to other banks’ portfolios (Haldane (2009)). Yet it remains early days in the development of stress-testing technologies. A system of systems perspective could be useful in enabling stress-testing technologies to better capture system-wide risks. For example, interaction and feedback channels could usefully be built into future stress-testing frameworks used by central banks, including the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve and the ECB. At the next level of policy resolution, a key area of progress in the post-crisis period has been in developing the macro-prudential framework and the instruments necessary to execute it (IMF (2013)). Many countries internationally now have a macro-prudential framework in place. And international case law on the efficacy of different macro-prudential tools is being built rapidly (IMF (2013)). Nonetheless, there is much further to go in understanding and calibrating the impact of macro-prudential tools.

This is an incarnation of the wise measures adopted by the government under the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to carry out more structural reforms (institutional and regulatory) which we have begun to feel their positive effects in all aspects of economy. It will be appropriate here to say a few words about the dynamic and crucial role played by the banking sector in the Kingdom, which is manifested in the substantial increase in the credit extended to the private sector which grew by 29 percent annually during 2003 – 2005; and it amounted to Rls 436 billion at the end of 2005. As a result of the expansion in banking business, the assets of the banking sector increased by 14.4 percent annually during the past three years (2003 – 2005). At the end of the first quarter of 2006, they stood at Rls 797.4 billion, constituting about 70 percent of the Kingdom’s economy. Deposits with the banking sector rose by 13.7 percent annually during the past three years, and they amounted to Rls 521.5 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2006. The positive indicators of the banking sector which rest on the robust fundamentals of the Saudi economy have prepared an appropriate environment for banks to adapt to successive, regional and international changes during the previous period. Banks operating in the Kingdom have been able to overcome the crises that hit other economies, and have been able to benefit from banks’ experiences and modern banking technology.
In this spirit the ECB has been reviewing its monetary policy operations over the past year. The enlargement eastwards will entail a new, formative stage. I would gladly work actively to achieve increased clarity and transparency within the ECB if the result of the referendum is a “yes” vote. Is a national stabilisation policy necessary? The risk that Sweden could end up in a different situation from the rest of the euro area, and that this would cause serious economic policy problems, has been strongly highlighted in the Swedish discussions, much more so than in other countries where the monetary union has been discussed. The reason for this is, of course, the severe crisis that occurred at the beginning of the 1990s, with the collapse of the krona in 1992, which had such a tangible effect on the lives of many in Sweden. In my opinion, there is a tendency to overestimate the risks that developments in Sweden will differ substantially from the rest of the world and require unique stabilisation policy measures. When we have differed from other countries previously - such as during the crisis years of the early 1990s - this has usually been the result of conducting a different economic policy; of not having control over inflation or focussing on stability, as the core EMU countries did. However, there now appears to be a consensus that economic policy should be aimed at long-term stability and that this policy should stand firm.

The work which I am presenting to you today is divided into three sections. The first tells the history of the SNB over the first seventy-five years of its existence. As the previous commemorative publications have already dealt in detail with this period, it was no longer necessary to recount all the events again. We thought that it would be more interesting to take a fresh and critical look at certain episodes from a historical perspective. This is why we called upon the services of three distinguished economists and historians, asking them to explore this period, and leaving them free to choose the salient points of their analysis. Michael Bordo of Rutgers University and Harold James of Princeton University took a detailed look into the first half-century of the SNB, in other words, from its Jean-Pierre Roth SNB founding in 1907 to the end of the Second World War. An exciting yet troubled time, which included the surge in inflation that came in the aftermath of the First World War, the laborious return to the gold standard, the 1936 devaluation, and the SNB’s activities during the Second World War. Peter Bernholz of the University of Basel is the author of the second chapter within this first part. He devoted himself to the period from 1945 to the early 1980s, including the return to convertibility, the Bretton Woods period, the transition to flexible exchange rates and initial experiences with an autonomous monetary policy.