8/14  Chapter III also describes the measures adopted to support the retail holders of shares and hybrid instruments affected by the restructuring exercises at the banks which moved into the FROB’s orbit (pp. 180-181). The two measures adopted were: 1) to enable the Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS) to purchase the shares that retail holders of preference debt instruments and subordinated debt had received in exchange for their securities when the shares were not listed (this was the case of Novacaixagalicia and Caixa Catalunya); and 2) to create a committee to establish the criteria that would govern the arbitration to be offered by FROB investee banks to the retail holders of these instruments to resolve cases of misselling. Subsequently (Table 3.4, p. 194), the amount of the instruments issued by Bankia, Caixa Catalunya and Novacaixagalicia is given, along with the arbitration requests received and the awards favourable to customers: overall, arbitration with a favourable award amounted to € relating to almost 300,000 customers. Bearing in mind the doubts over the viability of the euro and over Spain continuing in the single currency, and given the serious crisis facing our financial system, I believe that the restructuring strategy and its financing as set out in the 2012 Memorandum of Understanding was proportionate and has managed to achieve the normalisation of our financial system, as explained in Chapter IV of the Report.
Today, from this modest ceremony, I would like to assure you that we are fully responsible for this as useful as difficult mission. The Bank of Albania will be always attentive to ensure macroeconomic and financial stability for the country. In the spirit of end-year celebrations, I cannot help focusing on the Albanian young generation, an inspiration to our work and a fruit of our investments for a better future. Following its established tradition, the Bank of Albania has the pleasure to announce the Governor’s Award for the best diploma theses in 2011”. This year, we decided to announce this award in this important activity, in the presence of friends and colleagues. This is an expression of our appreciation for research by these today’s students – tomorrow’s colleagues. The Bank of Albania pays particular attention to the young generation, especially to its education. When I look back and see how we started financial education five years ago, I recall what may be a naive but a significant comparison; Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon. In addition to his famous quote “...That’s one small step for (a) man, a giant leap for mankind” he said “...the surface is fine and powdery. I only go in a fraction of an inch, maybe 1/8 of an inch, but I can see the footprints of my foot from the trail”. Looking back, we may spot our footprints.