It includes intensified efforts by financial regulators particularly – at the national level but also working collectively through the new Financial Stability Forum, the Basle Committee and IOSCO for example – to improve prudential standards of financial behaviour. And it includes the provision of official financial support to countries that are pursuing sound policies – in parallel with continuing private finance, on which the risks would have been reduced both through the parallel official finance itself and through official international endorsement of the borrowing country’ s policies. In this context I think we in  5  BIS Review 54/1999  the official sector may have placed too much emphasis in international discussions on “bailing in” the private sector – which can sound ominous, even threatening – where what we really need is recognition of our mutual interest in public-private sector partnership. It is a heavy and complex agenda which is being very actively pursued in many different international groupings, involving both the industrial and emerging countries, across a broad front. We are I believe steadily moving towards consensus or many of the issues and this is “leading the way towards sustainable economic growth” into the next millennium. In the meantime we are collectively having to manage the consequences of the recent global financial disturbances and their economic after-effects. Happily we have recently been making progress on that too, particularly in many of the emerging countries here in Asia. BIS Review 54/1999  6
Ardian Fullani: Improving the performance of Albania’s banking sector Speech by Mr Ardian Fullani, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the year-end event with the Albanian Association of Banks, Tirana, 17 December 2013. *  *  *  Dear bank executives, Your Excellency Ambassador Sequi, Dear Mr. Ilahi, Dear Mr. Pencabligil, It is a pleasure for me to participate in this year-end meeting, as we reflect about the challenges we faced and the objectives we accomplished in this year, and endeavour to identify issues that may arise over the next year. Given the celebrations time and the spirit of this meeting, I would rather not dwell upon all the issues I would have liked to. However, I will share with you my opinion on two issues I consider as important for a good performance of the banking sector over 2014. Before moving on, we should acknowledge that the year we are leaving behind was a difficult one for the banking sector. In its development cycle for over more than one decade, this year, the banking sector’s growth slowed down sharply and annual lending levels contracted. Deteriorated asset quality, dictated by credit, has led to lower financial profit due to higher provisions needed. These developments have reflected the overall economic slowdown and domestic demand drop resulting from lower private consumption and investments. However, other developments highlighted the banking sector’s capacity to properly respond to and cope with these challenges.