When the dictatorship fell in 1991, several corrupt private citizens and government officials started a number of wide-scale pyramid schemes, whereby local Albanians would invest their savings and were guaranteed unrealistic returns.  These schemes were able to flourish as they received wide support by the National Government of Albania.  The schemes finally blew up in 1997 with total liabilities of $1.2 billion, a year in which the country’s total GDP was only $2.3 billion.  Due to nearly two-thirds of the country’s citizens investing in these schemes, the population became very weary of trusting financial institutions with their money.  However, times are changing, according to the US State Department, the banking sector now is sound, profitable, and well capitalized.  Customers are becoming more comfortable with leaving their money in banks, particularly in any number of the international banks set up in the country.  This is facilities by the ability for customers to keep their deposits in LEK, Euros and USD.  Credit card use is also becoming more widely used and the government is increasing its oversight of tracking customer spending and working to move away from a cash dependent economy. Source: International Monetary Fund, US Department of State Quarterly Informal Economy Survey (QIES) by World Economics, London