a time lag of over one year – therefore, they are not only incapable of mitigating the current situation, but they may also bring about unwarranted aggravating effects in the future, when the economy will have actually recovered to its normal situation. the concept of providing financial stability does not differ a lot from the logic of maintaining macroeconomic stability. in such a case, the saying “ prevent rather than recover ” bears a significant importance, considering the high costs accompanying the financial crisis. the rapid lending and financial activity expansion of the banking system over the recent years, despite its positive aspect of boosting the economic growth, has also increased the pressure of being more alert in monitoring and maintaining the financial stability. regardless of the rigorous implementation of the best monitoring practices, the rapid growth and expansion are always characterized by elements of risk, which in normal situations are inclined to be underestimated or pass unobserved, in particular in a system level. therefore, the methodologies to be discussed over these two days will come to help the identification of such risks and take the proper measures timely. the methods to be introduced and discussed in this seminar are numerous, varying from non - parametrical to sophisticated modelling and econometric methods. despite their complexity, each of them is presented with their own pros and cons. our purpose is to establish and apply a wide packet of warning instruments, so as to minimize the errors deriving from the assumptions and various methodologies used. this packet will be a complement to the wide measures that we are considering to implement in the further enhancement of supervision, in order to anticipate the situations relating to the maintenance and consolidation of the financial stability. wishing you good proceedings, thank you!

specialised in one or some lending activities ( financial leasing, credits, micro credit, factoring, etc. ). 3. savings and loan associations - ( 16 ) which collect deposits from their members and supply credits only to the members of the association. 1 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches these financial entities ( banks and non - banks ) have continuously supported the economy of albania and households through lending activity. currently, the entire granted credit portfolio is assessed at all 805 billion. lending is the main activity carried out by non - bank financial institutions. the latter through this activity help a specific category of consumers and small enterprises, who do not manage to access the banking system. currently, 26 non - bank financial institutions operate in albania carrying out the lending activity, though they account for only 6 % of the system's credit portfolio, totalling all 53. 6 billion. the practice of selling and purchasing non - performing loans appeared in the albanian financial market, after the global financial crisis of 2008 - 2010. in this period, some of credits granted by banks over the years were not repaid by citizens. in 2015, these credits exceeded 25 % of total credits, directly affecting the soundness and safety of banks and turning into a serious threat to citizens'savings. the ability of banking sector to support the economy with new credits reduces significantly due to the overloading of balance sheets with non - performing loans. against this backdrop, the albanian government and the bank of albania adopted " the national plan on the reduction of non - performing loans " in september 2015. among other things, the plan charged the bank of albania with the task of regulating and licensing entities engaged in the purchase of non - performing loans. this practice, recognized internationally, is strongly recommended by the experts of the imf and the world bank. in that period, some financial institutions, in addition to lending for which they were licensed by the bank of albania, had also purchased non - performing loan portfolios from banks. this activity is based on the provisions laid down in the civil code on the transfer of credit ( articles 499 – 507 and 705, respectively ). pursuant to the amendments taking place in march 2016, credit purchase is considered a form of lending. through licensing, credit purchase and sale, based on the aforementioned articles of the civil code, is regulated and controlled by the bank of albania, being a subject to all supervisory obligations, including : reporting to the credit registry, providing periodic reports, risk management through