and quantity of capital for all internationally active institutions. but, both internationally and in the united states, the post - crisis reform agenda includes capital requirements derived in whole or in part from macroprudential aims. these include capital surcharges for systemically important firms and stress testing. stress testing, unlike conventional capital requirements, provides a forward - looking assessment of losses that would be suffered under adverse economic scenarios. moreover, the related capital planning process helps ensure that the banking system would continue to have bis central bankers ’ speeches adequate capital to provide viable financial intermediation even in the face of adverse conditions. the simultaneous testing of the largest firms using a supervisory model provides a perspective on a large part of the banking system and facilitates identification of correlated exposures and other common risks. the supervisory construction of adverse scenarios each year allows us to incorporate changes in financial practices, vulnerabilities, and conditions into a dynamic capital standard. for example, in recent tests, the federal reserve has assessed potential interest rate risk by analyzing how sensitive deposits will be to rate rises, whether banks might have to raise deposit rates more than expected to retain deposits, and whether banks that are hedging interest rate risk are all dealing with the same few counterparties. the system of risk - weighted capital surcharges adopted by the basel committee on banking supervision is a regulatory innovation designed to reduce the chances of distress or failure of “ g - sibs ” ( global systemically important institutions ) to a greater degree than at other firms, in recognition of the fact that the resulting negative consequences for the financial system would likely be substantially more significant. these surcharges are an important example of the principle, embodied in section 165 ( a ) of the dodd - frank act, that prudential requirements should increase in stringency with the systemic importance of regulated firms. 2 the surcharge applicable to institutions varies based on the relative systemic importance of a firm. as you are doubtless aware, the federal reserve has proposed for domestic implementation a range of surcharges higher, and somewhat differently calibrated, than the basel framework. 3 the approach to calibration we developed in cooperation with other basel committee members was to determine the additional capital necessary to equalize the probable systemic impact from the failure of a systemically important bank, as compared to the probable systemic impact from the failure of a large, but not systemically important, bank. however, the surcharge levels ultimately agreed to by the basel

fatos ibrahimi : development of small and medium - sized enterprises in albania speech by mr fatos ibrahimi, deputy governor of the bank of albania, at the meeting of launching the " program on the development of the small and medium - sized enterprises ", tirana, 20 january 2009. * * * your excellency mr. ambassador, honourable mr. ministers, honourable participants, it is a special pleasure for me to attend this event and i avail myself of the opportunity to greet on behalf of the bank of albania this joint recent initiative, between the ministry of economy and the italian collaboration. the financial support of small and medium - sized enterprises has a particular importance for the development of this project and for the release of managing abilities of the economic units. the financing of small enterprises, for the small developing economies, is a worthy opportunity to increase both the employment and the economic activity based on the initiative, ideas and producing capabilities of small groups or of distinguished individuals, who owns the courage and knowledge to generate material goods and to increase the welfare of the society. the small and medium - sized enterprises in albania, over the transition period, have been growing with quick steps, hence showing up as a distinguished characteristic of the whole albanian transition, having survived to the domestic economic difficulties as the fall of pyramid schemes or other problems related to the reforms and the process of completing the institutional and legal framework. the contribution of small enterprises to the growth of service, construction, trade and agriculture sectors, where micro - enterprises compose the largest part of this group, has been obviously significant for the short - term and stable revival of the albanian economy. these enterprises have provided a substantial input to the decrease of unemployment and to the rise of productivity in the aforementioned economic activities, with a considerable impact for the quick growth of the albanian economy. the domestic economy is noticeably improved over the last decade and the progress made over an expanded period of these last years reflects a positive and relatively stable macroeconomic environment. the growth rhythms of real gdp, are assessed as plausible, and in general higher compared to the other countries of the region. the consumer price level as well, has resulted in compliance with the target of the central bank for the price stability. “ the calmness ” of the external factors that struck the supply reaction and the domestic macroeconomic stability, provided the inflation rate be normalised within the targeted limits. the developments occurring in the exchange rate already are perceived as stable compared to its high fluctuations characterising the ’ 90s. in the