Deposit withdrawal from the banking system was withstood, thanks to liquid assets adequacy, capital availability and Bank of Albania’s intervention to supply the market with liquidity, aiming at maintaining its stability and mitigating any expected contraction of the banking system’s intermediary role. To this end, the Bank of Albania has supported the demand of the banking system for liquidity through open market operations. After cutting interest rate by 0.5 percentage point in January 2009 and mitigating inflationary pressures at home, the monetary policy paid special attention to financial stability, keeping base interest rate unchanged for the whole period. Thus, it was aimed to support the demand for financial assets denominated in the national currency in the short run. At the same time, the Bank of Albania carried out with a strong supervisory regime on banking sector developments. Such a stance supported the efficient management of liquidity situation of the banking sector, oriented credit towards national currency and influenced the maintaining of financial stability parameters and capitalization of activity. The situation entered into a qualitative improvement stage, following the re-starting of the process of public deposit growth in the banking sector. This process, which took place gradually and steadily in the second quarter of 2009, continued at satisfactory paces. During this period, banks acted with due prudence and accountability. Therefore, I would like to avail myself of the opportunity to thank you, the staff you manage, as well as the shareholders of your institutions, for their commitment and cooperation during this period.
This forum, which was held on the eve of global turmoil outburst, indicated that the Albanian banking system had significantly increased its resilience. It addressed important matters related to: •  Transparency and customer services,  •  Risks related to foreign currency credit and consumer credit, as well as  •  Interbank market functions and monetary policy transmission in the economy. Today’s forum takes place in an important moment of the banking and financial system. After a hard year, it seems that the situation is becoming eventually normal. Therefore, I am confident that, figuratively, the third forum will have the consolidation of public confidence in the Albanian banking system as the main motif. Achievements in this regard are not lacking. Statistics show that deposit level is approaching steadily to its prior-crisis level, while ALL credit livening-up is continuing. Dear participants, Today’s meeting is held after some important financial and economic events dictated by the global crisis. Now that the situation has cleared up and has entered into an improvement stage, a thorough analysis is being made about its causes, about public authorities’ reaction and about actions to be taken, in order to raise the global financial system’s resilience. Now, allow me to deal briefly with the main features of this unmatched crisis, and then continue with some arguments on the functioning of the Albanian financial system and some necessary regulations for its further perfection.