karnit flug : israel ’ s credit information bill remarks by dr karnit flug, governor of the bank of israel, to the knesset economic committee regarding the credit information bill, tel aviv, 14 march 2016. * * * in recent years, the bank of israel has been acting in various ways to increase competition in the banking system in general, and in the retail credit market in particular. an important component of increased competition in the credit market is providing a solution to the problem of asymmetric information. the banking id card that all banking customers received a few days ago is an important measure in this area. the credit information database is expected to provide a complete solution to this issue. the database will serve as an additional tool in increasing competition and expanding access to credit while reducing the discrimination derived from a lack of information. in addition, the database and the anonymous information it will include will assist the bank of israel in monitoring developments in the credit market from the standpoint of financial stability. in view of this, and since the bank of israel has the experience and the know - how necessary to advance projects of this kind, the bank of israel has decided to take upon itself the challenge of establishing and operating the database, with all that this involves. to that end, the minister of finance and i have appointed a higher steering committee led by the deputy governor of the bank of israel and the director general of the ministry of finance, and including the director general of the bank of israel, the deputy budget director at the ministry of finance, and representatives of the national economic council and the ministry of defense. we have also established professional teams at the bank of israel to deal with ways to handle the challenges posed by the project, including : establishing and operating the database ; security of the information that will be fed into the database, found in it and provided by it ; maintaining the interests of customers and protecting their privacy ; and more. the higher steering committee and the work teams are working in synergy with all parties involved in the process, and with the utmost cooperation of the ministry of finance, the ministry of justice, the national economic council, and other entities. i would like to take this opportunity to thank the representatives of the various ministries who took part in the formulation of the bill, and particularly the representatives of the bank of israel in the legislative process : the deputy governor and the director general of the bank of israel, who took upon themselves the leadership of this complex and important project, and

gent sejko : welcome remarks - 15th see economic research workshop welcome remarks by mr gent sejko, governor of the bank of albania, at the 15th see economic research workshop, virtual, 6 december 2021. * * * dear professors and researchers from academia, dear fellow central bank colleagues and researchers, dear participants, it is a great pleasure to open the proceedings of the 15th see economic research workshop, which is being organised virtually this year as well, due to the covid - 19 pandemic restrictions that are still in place. i take this opportunity to express my wish that we would all stay safe and healthy and for the negative effects of the pandemic to come to an end as soon as possible. i hope that the vaccination process, progress in knowledge, cures against covid - 19, and an improvement in the overall situation caused by the pandemic, would enable us to welcome you in tirana next year. i am glad to note that we have again a full house and a rich agenda this year, with two days in which colleagues and researchers from central banks as well as distinguished universities in albanian and worldwide will present their works. we really appreciate your interest in participating in this workshop and in the research carried out by the bank of albania throughout 2021. i am confident that discussions across this workshop ’ s panels will be very interesting. the annual organisation of this workshop has served to share experiences with the participating central banks and have enriched research work, becoming in turn an integral contributor to policy formulation. these workshops have made a valuable contribution for confirming and interpreting research results, which enable the compilation, calibration and implementation of policy measures for tackling the pandemic and similar shocks. your findings, comments and discussions assist our authors to improve their studies, and in turn contribute to the formulation and decision making of policy at the central bank. evidence, analysis and forecasts based on the research work that you will present in these two days will provide accurate and valuable information for orienting and coordinating decision making in the future. 20 research projects will be presented and discussed this year, which in in spite of covering a broad gamut / range of topics, are directly related to the activity and interests of the central bank. we have discussed almost the same topics a year ago however, you could rightly say : “ what a difference, compared to last year? ” in 2020, discussions were focused on the modern monetary policy, and the role of the central bank