Mrs. Vasilika Vjero

Mrs. Vasilika Vjero was born in Tirana in 1976.
Mrs.Vjero graduated from the University of Tirana, Faculty of Economics, Department of Business Administration in 1998. In 2003 she completed a master’s degree from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln USA, and University of Tirana, Faculty of Economy. She has also been trained in economic growth by Harvard Kennedy School.
Ms. Vjero has held senior management positions, such as General Director of Taxes, General Director of the National Business Center, General Director of the Albanian Road Authority. In her career she counts more than 10 years of work experience for the Municipality of Tirana in the management of the Tax Administration and the Department of Strategic Planning and local budgets, as well as a series of experiences as a financial expert with foreign donors. She has also served as an expert independent fiscal and budget for local government in Albania for a total of 24 municipalities and communes throughout the country.
Ms. Vjero speaks english and italian.

Mr. Genc Mamani

Genci Mamani is the General Director of the Albanian Deposit Insurance Agency and at the same time a member of its Steering Council.
Mr. Mamani, graduated in 1991 at the University of Tirana, Faculty of Economics, Department of Finance.
In 2001 he completed postgraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin – La Cross, USA, in finance – banking and in 2012 he postgraduate at master’s level in Business Administration at the International Hellenic University, in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Mr. Mamani started his career in 1991 as an economist at the Central Bank of Albania. He pursued his career by holding managerial positions on different commercial banks such as FEFAD Bank (actually Pro Credit Bank), the Italian-Albanian Bank and further on to be back at the Bank of Albania until late 2015. In July 2015 he took over as General Director of the Deposit Insurance Agency.
Mr. Mamani is fluent in English and Italian.

Mr. Donald Duraj

Mr. Donald Duraj was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Deposit Insurance Agency in 2015. He has a progressive career of more than 15 years in the banking system, an integral part of which have been quite active and successful achievements within various prestigious local financial institutions and those in the international network such as Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine and Belarus. Since 2015, Mr. Duraj holds the position of Chief of Staff of the Governor of the Bank of Albania with the responsibility of advising, assisting, monitoring and coordinating all issues related to the progress and proper functioning of the Governor’s Office and other departments of the Bank of Albania. From 2010 to 2015 Mr. Duraj was Head of Commercial Organization and Market Development Sector at Societe Generale Bank in Albania playing a key role in the strategic direction, short-term and long-term planning, setting key objectives, coordinating inter-divisional and inter-institutional relations, locally and internationally, with public and private companies, et cetera. During this period Mr. Duraj has successfully led at least 15 projects, among the most important ones for the Bank, and with a direct impact on the expansion of activity in the local market and with an increase in profitability. Mr. Duraj worked from 2005 to 2010 at Raiffeisen Bank Albania and Raiffeisen International Austria covering key operational and strategic positions. The most important of them were Head of Individuals Segment, Head of Consumer Credit Products, Project Manager in the “Retail Leadership” Program at Raiffeisen International Austria, etc. Mr. Duraj has graduated at the Faculty of Economics, Department of Finance, Banking Profile, at the University of Tirana.

12/30/2021

Press release on the meeting of the Financial Stability Advisory Group, 29 December, 2021

R E P U B L I C O F A L B A N I A

FINANCIAL STABILITY ADVISORY GROUP

Tirana, 30.12. 2021 2021

PRESS RELEASE

Meeting of the Financial Stability Advisory Group

29 December 2021

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The Financial Stability Advisory Group (FSAG) met on 29 December 2021. The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Finance and Economy, and was attended by Governor of the Bank of Albania (BoA), Chair of the Board of the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA), Director General of the FSA, Director General of the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA), as well as other representatives from these institutions.

The agenda focused on the most recent assessments by the present authorities about the developments in the institutions and markets they supervise.

In its presentation focusing on the assessment of the banking system’s financial situation during 2021, Bank of Albania highlighted that the developments were positive and reflecting the resilience of economy against the impact of the pandemic. Financial markets functioned smoothly, with interest rates remaining at low levels and showing little volatility. The banking sector expanded its activity considerably, on the back of strong deposits growth that were routed toward interbank, securities and loan investments. The non-performing loans fell to around ALL 41 billion, driving the non-performing loans ratio down at 6.2% in November 2021. Solid credit growth also gave a contribution in the drop of non-performing loans ratio. Market risk indicators did not show pronounced changes over the year. Banking sector’s capability to withstand risks is assessed as strong, as the liquidity situation is very good and the banking activity is profitable and well capitalised. The continuous improvement of credit quality, months after the expiration of the supportive regulatory measures of the Bank of Albania, is encouraging. In spite of it, during 2022 the Bank of Albania shall pay special attention to the analysis of non-performing loans through dedicated supervisory actions in the banking sector.

In the framework of systemic risks analysis related to the structure of the economy, Bank of Albania presented an analysis constructed on the national financial accounts and the interconnectedness between the institutional sectors. The Albanian economy has a net debtor position to the rest of the world, given that liabilities are higher than assets. This position is affected by the negative net positions of non-financial corporations (enterprises) and of the General Government, while the positions of households and financial corporations provided a positive contribution. Based on this structure and by assessing the financing flows among sectors, indicators that evidence the risks arising from certain sectors’ position may be constructed. Further, in order to control these risks, measures in the framework of economic and financial policies may be taken to reduce the negative net positions. The Bank of Albania is carrying out this analysis not only for the institutional sectors of the economy but also for the main segments of the financial system. In this context, the FSAG members assessed that the interinstitutional collaboration for this purpose would be very useful.

The excessive use of foreign currency in economy, frequently as a means of payment, remains one of the important sources of financial risk and reduces the effectiveness of economic and financial policies. For this reason, the FSAG members discussed on the need and possibility that measures to reduce the use of foreign currencies and strengthen the use of national currency, currently concentrated in the banking sector, are also envisaged carefully for the real sector of the economy. In this respect, members in this meeting are committed for institutional collaboration, which may be also assisted by the expertise sought from the international financial institutions.

FSA acquainted members of FSAG with the developments in the legal and regulatory framework, as well as with the performance of the financial markets that FSA supervises. In the framework of enhancing convergence with the best standards in this field, the FSA representatives highlighted the approval of some important laws, including: “On compulsory Insurance in the transport sector”; “On capital markets”; “On collective investment undertakings”; “On financial markets based on distributed ledger technology”; and the preparation of the draft-law “On private pension funds”. The work on drafting the related by-laws has progressed. The presentation evidenced developments in voluntary pension funds, investment funds and retail securities market. In the latter, dominate the transactions between households and the preference for short-term securities of government debt. Regarding the insurance market, FSA representatives pointed out the increase of gross paid premiums over the year but also the more rapid growth of indemnities. The compulsory vehicle insurance dominates the market structure, having the highest share in gross written premiums. Overall, these financial market segments have shown resilience and solid activity growth despite of pandemic impact. Furthermore, the FSAG members discussed on issues related to inter-institutional collaboration for improving the functioning of such markets.

DIA’s representatives regularly participate in FSAG meetings. In this meeting, DIA’s representatives presented the performance of deposits at banks and savings and loan associations (SLAs). Over 2021, the insured deposits grew in both banks and SLAs. In total, households’ savings continue to dominate the insurable deposits, with foreign currency deposits accounting for slightly more than half of the latter. By maturity, time deposits dominate the insurable deposits of households, while deposits of entrepreneurs and commercial companies are concentrated in current accounts. In line with the performance of insured deposits, the deposits insurance fund was up over the previous year. The payments of deposit insurance premium by banks and SLAs as well as the management of financial assets by DIA were the financing source of the insurance fund over the previous year, as laid down in the law under normal situations. Given the pandemic conditions and taking a cautious approach, DIA strengthened these sources with the credit line made available from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and guaranteed by the Government of the Republic of Albania.

After the discussions of the issues set out above, the senior officials of the institutions assessed positively the developments in the financial system, in financial markets and in the relevant regulatory framework, by affirming the stability of the financial system. The pandemic did not affect this stability. They emphasised the importance of monitoring the financial developments, as both the economic situation and the public health are facing continuous challenges.

At the conclusion of discussions according to the agenda, the senior officials representing the participating institutions approved this press release and authorized its publication.

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