##2 was 66. 4 million euros with an annual increase of 8. 7 percent. the gross premiums written by insurance companies until september 2022 marked the value of 98. 2 million euros or an annual increase of 13. 0 percent, while the gross paid claims marked the value of over 42 million euros or an annual increase of over 25 percent. even the pension sector during this year was characterized by growth, compared to the previous year. the total value of pension sector assets in september 2022 reached 2. 3 billion euros compared to 2. 2 billion in september 2021, which corresponds to an annual increase of 4. 2 percent. the pension sector until september 2022, due to the unfavourable conditions in the international financial markets, recorded a poor financial performance, marking a negative return on investments in the amount of about 170 million euros. the new pension contributions during this period marked the value of around 177. 5 million euros. as for the sector of microfinance institutions and non - banking financial institutions, until october 2022, the assets of this sector reached the value of 386. 1 million euros, marking an annual increase of 12. 6 percent. in total, the active loans of this sector in october reached the value of 276 million euros, or an annual increase of 18. 4 percent. the average interest rate on new loans issued by microfinance institutions in october was 19. 0 percent, which in the same period last year was 20. 6 percent. even in this sector, the good quality of the credit portfolio is assessed with a rate of nonperforming loans of 2. 9 percent. cbk has continued its commitment also in the function of protecting the rights of consumers of financial services, thus directly serving the protection of citizens'interests. until november of this year, the number of complaints reviewed by the cbk reached 810 complaints. the cbk's commitment to protecting the rights of consumers of financial services, either through financial education programs or through corrective measures against financial institutions, has been and will remain a priority of the cbk in the coming years. 4 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches as far as internal developments are concerned, cbk has also continued during 2022 with the advancement and development of its professional capacities in all areas of its operation. despite the created situation and not very favourable conditions in the international markets, the central bank of the republic of kosovo has managed to maintain its financial stability and good performance of the institution,

the provision of services for fees are the basis of islamic finance contracts. islamic finance is therefore systematically backed by real assets. moreover, it prohibits speculation and the financing of production or trade in specific sectors. on the one hand, these principles can be considered to provide stability for the financial system. indeed, in islamic finance, unbacked expansion of credit is precluded, and banks cannot initiate or accentuate a speculative process. credit is based on real savings and savings can only earn a return if directly invested in creating activities. finance and the real economy are closely linked. in the islamic system, banks can neither carry highly leveraged exposures nor acquire risky financial structured products. by the way, even if the islamic nature of their finance is not the only explanation, we can note that islamic finance countries, compared with those of conventional finance, have been relatively less impacted by the crisis. but on the other hand, islamic banks pose risks to the financial system that in many regards differ from those posed by conventional banks, with respect, for example, to liquidity, operational and legal risks. indeed, islamic banks face specific obstacles in liquidity management, as the prohibition of interest has led to the underdevelopment of funding sources. moreover, operational risk and legal uncertainty can be amplified by the lack of product standardization and the lack of harmonization of islamic standards, with for example possible differences between shariah scholars'interpretations, accounting standards, and so on. in the same way, prohibition from financing specific sectors limits the kind of eligible assets for investment, which contributes to increasing the risk of concentration in potentially cyclical sectors such as real estate. this is what happened in certain gulf countries. • as the analysis of the principles of islamic finance does not settle the issue of the relationship between islamic finance and financial stability, it needs to be supplemented by an empirical analysis. in fact, there is relatively little empirical analysis regarding the role of islamic banks in financial stability. nevertheless, a working paper of the international monetary fund was published at the beginning of 2008. 5 the findings of this paper are to be viewed as preliminary. nevertheless, it has the advantage of being, as far as i know, the first and, up to now, only cross - country empirical analysis of islamic banks ’ impact on financial stability. even if the situation may in principle differ from country to country and even from bank to bank, the paper finds that : - ( i ) small islamic banks tend to be financially stronger than