from sunday to thursday, so that the weekend would be on friday and saturday, has been approved. terrorist crimes and their financing law, stipulated under the anti - money laundering law, has been approved. the custodian of the two holy mosques – may allah protect him – is very well known for his devoted concern with citizens and their needs and his keenness for enhancing the level of their well - being and providing a decent livelihood for them. he issued his kind directives to take necessary measures for addressing and alleviating the poverty level, supporting social security, approving salary and cost of living allowance increases, turning employees on wages item into state employees, addressing housing problems and supporting specialized development funds. we pray to the almighty allah that the kingdom ’ s citizens will have many returns of this dear and national occasion and that the custodian of the two holy mosques, hrh the crown prince and the second deputy prime minister will be in good health. may the kingdom continue to enjoy security and stability, so that the development march will continue under our wise leadership. bis central bankers ’ speeches

, or 11 branches more that the end of the previous year, while the number of agencies recorded for the first time a full three - digit number, 100 and the number of the employed people increased by 26 percent. the high increase of the number of branches relative to that of agencies shows that banks are not interested only in providing the service of collecting deposits but also in providing other products like crediting to the economy. these developments, besides their positive contribution in enhancing the financial intermediation, speak for a better perception of investing potential from banks in albania. an outstanding development is mainly related to the client service, which is accompanied through electronic terminals by the increasing number of electronic cards in circulation. banks offer already debit and credit cards in co - operation with international companies such as visa and mastercard. six banks provide the atm service and the number of atms reached 108 by the end of february 2005. the banking system results to have a profit level, which has been increasing to lek 5. 1 billion. return on equity ( roe ) was estimated at 21 percent while credit quality is only 4. 2 percent from 4. 6 percent in the previous year. in any case, we must say that credits are still new and do not have adequate history to show their performance. however, problems and challenges, which the system is facing, are still enormous and in this context the role of the association of banks, i think, will be important to overcome them. credit to the economy and credit register credit to the economy has recently known a great development. high growth rates impose us to be prudent in the other direction, that is portfolio quality. enhancing competitiveness and consequently, enhancing the credit level is bringing about a rising trend of weighted risk assets and some banks are already close to the minimum level of 12 percent. the client ’ s identification on receiving and using the credit and other obligations he / she has to the banking market is vague, incomplete without giving the opportunity the banking system to have a history on the client ’ s activity. that ’ s why i believe that a centralized register, which unlike the previous years became now a necessity, is needed. i would like to highlight that bank of albania has included the project of establishing the credit register in its short - term plans and we are deeply committed to execute it within the next year. i use the opportunity to emphasize that this register will be under the administration of bank of albania and the participation of banks member of the system will be compulsory