The reduction of the requirements for liquid assets by banks may be carried out without infringing the stability of the system, since their level is generally higher than that of international standards and of banks in the region. Moreover, given that banks operating in the country have their origin mainly in Europe, this reduction may take place under the conditions of declining risk premia in European financial markets. However, it will be  4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  monitored and implemented according to each bank’s risk profile. This means that though the reduction may be general, the level of liquid assets requested by currency and in total may be different in different banks. Change in the risk coefficients of the investment structure will take place, so that banks’ capital better supports the shifting of their resources toward lending. More specifically, we propose significant increase in risk coefficients that are used for calculating the banks’ capital, for new flows of bank investments with non-residents. This increase in risk coefficients may take place also for part of bank investment stock with non-residents, taking into consideration: •  Regulatory requirements for liquid assets;  •  Adequate coverage of bank liabilities to non-residents; and  •  The time needed so that this shift does not cause any operational overburden to banks. On the other hand, risk coefficients may decrease in banks for the amount of new credit added to the existing stock, for a certain period of time.
Also, they are increasingly active in the restructuring the credit to businesses. Nevertheless, both sides have complaints related to each other. The businesses complain that banks are tight fisted, and often banks’ lending does not correspond with the businesses activity cycle. On the other hand, banks claim that businesses submit unreliable projects for crediting, and deficient financial information for decision making. The Bank of Albania is confident that the relationship between business and banks will develop to the benefit of both parties, if they: •  Enhance their understanding of the activity profile, market conditions and regulatory requirements, which determine the activity of each of them;  •  Enter into cooperation agreements, based on transparent, comprehensive and professional information;  •  Act proactively to detect situations in which this agreement should be reviewed, to improve the possibilities to settle liabilities against each-other. The measures that Bank of Albania proposes today support the need for a closer relationship between banks and business, in the current economic situation in Albania. They expand the banks’ room for a greater flexibility in the process of credit restructuring. However, banks would not finance unsuccessful businesses; neither would they lend to businesses that do not supply transparent and complete information. A closer relationship also implies that, in their analysis, banks need to utilise more effectively the available information about existing and new borrowers, which may be generated by such sources as the Credit Registry.