gent sejko : bank of albaniaa€™s support for new graduates and the importance of ongoing education address by mr gent sejko, governor of the bank of albania, to the graduation ceremony of the students of economics, university of tirana, albania, 7 november 2019. * * * dear students, distinguished members of the faculty, dear parents, relatives and friends, thank you for inviting me here and for the wonderful welcome. it is a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity to address this audience on this special day for you, your families and the academic staff of the faculty. today, you have the absolute right to be proud, enjoying the reward of your laborious efforts and sacrifices throughout the years of your studies, from the first grade to the completion of university studies. i take this opportunity to wish you all successes in the long and challenging journey of postuniversity life. starting tomorrow, you will not return to university auditoriums, you will start making your own journey, as new perspectives and opportunities open up. starting tomorrow, you will enter into a new stage of your life, characterised by complex and rather challenging relationships. this is the big truth of human life, and i hope that you have already grasped it. looking at your achievements, the appraisal of your professors and the results from your internships at the bank of albania, i can only be optimistic about your ability and sagacity to find the right path in life. my appeal today for you is to embrace a different philosophy of thinking and acting, more modern and forward - looking, obviously always capitalising on our best national values and traditions. my advice is : never absent yourselves from knowledge and books. education is a never - ending experience and process, and will accompany you throughout your carrier, notwithstanding your specific engagement, a bright member of the academia, a successful entrepreneur in the private sector or an expert of important public or international institutions. to be on the top list, you should always update your knowledge on the most recent theories, trends and findings, which explain the most basic laws and functioning of markets and economy. as the administrator of an important institution in the field of the economic and financial policies decision making, i have always believed and supported the involvement of the new generation in the daily activity of the institution. beyond the fact that the new generation dominates the human resources in the bank of albania, we try to maintain the interest and the inclusion of students in our everyday activity, through a

the task of specifying stress scenarios for indian banks rather difficult. an alternative is to apply the stress scenarios observed in the rest of the world but that raises the issue of relevance to indian banking system. the dilemma, therefore, is in choosing the appropriate extreme scenario for indian banks. v. migration to ifrs the indian banking system will need to address certain issues in implementing the convergence with the ifrs. first, the very crucial ifrs 9 relating to financial instruments, is still evolving and the final standard is unlikely to be available soon. thereafter, the institute for chartered accountants of india ( icai ) will need to promulgate the converged standard for india. this presents a moving target, given short time available for convergence with ifrs. converging to the standards would present challenges in terms of considerable skill upgradation and modification in the it systems of banks. rbi has been undertaking efforts to create awareness and is also undertaking training programmes. bis central bankers ’ speeches vi. asset quality while the gross npas, in percentage terms, have declined sharply and steadily from 15. 70 per cent at end march 1997 to 2. 24 per cent at end march 2011, this does not fully reveal the underlying realities and some trends are a matter of concern which could put pressure on asset quality of banks in future. the aggressive lending during the high credit growth phase followed by the crisis, resulted in slippage ratio4 steadily rising from 1. 81 per cent at end march 2008 to 2. 21 per cent at end march 2010, followed by a slight moderation to 2. 01 per cent in 2011. the concern is that the recoveries have not kept pace with slippages since 2007 – 08 and despite write - offs, the gross npas increased to 2. 39 per cent at end march 2010 from 2. 26 per cent at end march 2008 ( partly also due to slowdown in credit growth ). all these are reflected in rising stock of npas which is a reversal of an earlier trend ( gross npas rose by rs. 44, 828 crore5 ( 86. 3 per cent ) from end march 2006 to end march 2011 ). rising interest rates and substantial amount of restructuring done during the crisis period, if not done with due care, are likely to put further pressure on asset quality of banks. therefore, there is a need for banks to step up efforts to resolve their existing npas and tighten their credit risk management systems. vii. infrastructure financing given the large requirements