Reference to excessive monetary growth made central banks relatively immune to daily political and fiscal pressure, even in places where institutional independence had not (yet) been established. Control of the money supply lost some of its attractiveness because its central analytical basis was subject to successive erosion. Money demand functions became increasingly unstable. Given some differences between countries on the one hand and the aggregates employed on the other hand - mainly M0 to M3 - the connection between the intermediate target and the ultimate target became more and more unreliable. That was also the case in Switzerland, even if with a time-lag and to a lesser extent than in other countries, notably English-speaking ones. We recorded shifts in cash  BIS Review 35/2000  2  holdings which we could not even explain satisfactorily ex post, much less have forecast them with any degree of accuracy. The central banks reacted differently to this experience. Some rapidly threw money supply targeting overboard. Others - including the SNB - changed from annual to medium-term targets. The extended room for manoeuvre made it possible to consider various indicators in shaping the policy course. One could use the term pragmatically adapted targeting of the money supply. In actual fact, this step came close to a transformation of the money stock from an intermediate target to a monetary indicator, albeit the most important one. The destabilisation of money demand as previously set out has complex reasons on various levels.
In addition to supporting price stability, the Bank of Albania has also paid attention to the promotion of financial stability, through the supervision and careful regulation of the banking 1/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  sector, as well as through the coordination of work with other supervisory authorities of the financial sector. 2. Banking supervision and financial stability The Albanian banking sector continues to remain financially sound and has shown increasing dynamism. This sector has been profitable during 2019, while its liquidity and capitalization indicators are above our regulatory requirements. Also, resistance testing exercises show that the banking sector exposure to systemic risks is controlled and that the banking sector’s ability to withstand risks is strong. Below I will briefly list some of the main directions of our work to strengthen banking supervision and to support financial stability. First, the Bank of Albania successfully administered the banking sector consolidation process. This process reshaped the domestic banking market, bringing in new and motivated actors, as well as increasing domestic capital. Second, the Bank of Albania fulfilled all its obligations under the national plan for the reduction of non-performing loans. Thanks to measures taken over the years, the nonperforming loan ratio fell from a maximum of almost 25% in 2014 to 8.4% at the end of 2019. Third, the Bank of Albania worked to meet the recommendations of the CoE Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Measures against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (MONEYVAL).