ardian fullani : educating and inspiring albania ’ s young generation speech by mr ardian fullani, governor of the bank of albania, at the 2011 end - year reception, tirana, 21 december 2011. * * * honourable minister, your excellencies ambassadors, honourable members of parliament, dear representatives of the banking system and the media, dear participants, i would like to welcome and thank you for your participation. your presence today is a special pleasure for me personally and the bank of albania. my special thanks go to the former members of the supervisory council of the bank of albania, whose term in office has ended. i personally appreciate the seriousness and commitment they have dedicated to their work, a precious contribution to bank of albania ’ s institutional furtherance. thanking them once again for their professional work, allow me to welcome the newly appointed members of the supervisory council of the bank of albania, renowned public figures with an unquestionable professional career. they come from diverse fields of professional careers and will bring in added value to the bank of albania, contributing to a wider coverage of the institution ’ s functions. i am confident that the bank of albania, in its activity, will continue to incorporate best international standards as regards decision - making, independence, accountability, transparency and governance. i believe that a healthy economy that generates stable growth needs a developed financial sector in terms of its depth and width ; a flexible banking system, which manages public ’ s deposits cautiously and channels them efficiently to fund the economy. today, from this modest ceremony, i would like to assure you that we are fully responsible for this as useful as difficult mission. the bank of albania will be always attentive to ensure macroeconomic and financial stability for the country. in the spirit of end - year celebrations, i cannot help focusing on the albanian young generation, an inspiration to our work and a fruit of our investments for a better future. following its established tradition, the bank of albania has the pleasure to announce the governor ’ s award for the best diploma theses in 2011 ”. this year, we decided to announce this award in this important activity, in the presence of friends and colleagues. this is an expression of our appreciation for research by these today ’ s students – tomorrow ’ s colleagues. the bank of albania pays particular attention to the young generation, especially to its education. when i look back and see how we started financial education five years ago, i recall what may be a naive but a significant comparison ; neil

the rt hon sir edward george : shafts of light amidst the general gloom of the global economy speech by the rt hon sir edward george, governor of the bank of england, at the bankers club / guild banquet, london, 4 february 2002. * * * president, my lord mayor - locum tenens, excellencies, my lords, aldermen, sheriff, ladies and gentlemen i'm sure you've noticed that time passes more quickly as you get older. i explain it with my own pet theory of relativity based on the fact that each year that passes is a smaller proportion of what's gone before. but i must confess i'm beginning to have my doubts. it seems much more than 12 months ago that we last came together for this great annual gathering. the fact is, it's been a very long, hard, year, not just for policy - makers around the world but also for many of you in the financial services industry - particularly the international financial services industry. we've had to cope with the synchronised global economic slowdown ; the extension of the fall in equity prices - with dotcoms spreading to telecoms and beyond - even now to enron ; with increasing credit risks ; and then with the vicious terrorist attacks of 11th september and their aftermath, and, finally around the turn of the year with the very sad climax to argentina's long drawn out crisis. i could easily go on. it really has been a long, hard, year. but there have been shafts of light amidst the general gloom - and i prefer to focus on those this evening. in terms of the global economy there are now tentative signs that the worst may soon be over, with the prospect of gradual recovery as we move through this year. that should provide some support for global equity markets. with inflationary pressures subdued, monetary policy generally can, for the time being at least, afford to remain reasonably supportive - though i make no predictions as to what that may mean for interest rates. and crucially, for all of us, the international financial system has so far and i recognise that problems are often slow to surface but it has so far - stood up well to the successive shocks. much more broadly, i am encouraged that - as with the asia crisis a few years ago - the recent pressures have not generally called into question the real benefits of the market economy, in terms of growth, and employment, and rising living standards, but have rather contributed