gent sejko : bank of albania – strengthening governance and recent other challenges introductory statement by mr gent sejko, governor of the bank of albania, presenting the annual report 2015 to the parliamentary committee on economy and finance, tirana, 29 march 2016. * * * honourable chair of the parliamentary committee on economy and finance, honourable members of the committee, it is my special pleasure to present, in this hearing session with the parliamentary committee on economy and finance, the annual report of the bank of albania for 2015. in 2015, the bank of albania has worked to successfully fulfil its objectives stemming from the law “ on the bank of albania ”, as well as all the other obligations arising from relevant sublegal acts and relations with our international partners. i would like to start my presentation, focusing on the activity of the supervisory council of the bank of albania. 1. decisions of the supervisory council at the beginning of 2015, the management team of the bank of albania was rendered complete. thus, thanks to the support of the assembly of the republic of albania, the vacant positions in the supervisory council were completed, the governor, the second deputy governor and inspector general of the bank of albania were appointed. during 2015, the council met 15 times and approved 98 decisions. of them, 63 consisted in acts approved for the first time, and 35 in amendments to existing acts. eight meetings focused on the monetary policy decision, whereas four meetings focused on decisions about issues pertaining to supervision and financial stability. the decisions have been communicated to the public through press conferences, full publication of relevant reports and explanation, on a case by case basis, in accordance with requests by various media outlets. all the reports compiled by the bank of albania on the monetary policy and financial stability have been fully submitted, within the envisaged legal time frame, to the assembly of the republic of albania and its committee on economy and finance. in line with the above said, and in accordance with earlier public statements, the strengthening of governance has assumed a key place in the supervisory council decisionmaking process. from this perspective, i will now briefly focus on : establishment of the audit committee the establishment of the audit committee is an important development with regard to strengthening the internal control at the bank of albania, especially the supervisory capacities of the supervisory council. the meetings held in 2015 discussed the organisation and functioning of the control [ internal audit ] department, the audit universe and annual plan, main findings, risk assessment and effectiveness of the internal

significant strides have been made to improve financial access and introduce more convenient services, more work needs to be done. ladies and gentlemen, this state of affairs hinders people ’ s ability to establish financial transactions. effectively, lack of financial access stifles entrepreneurship and holds back the country ’ s economic growth. for instance, as at june 2010, there were only 258 bank branches and agencies in the whole country. in most cases, these branches or outlets are located in urban centres, with rural areas having few if any branches. conversely as at june 2010 the three mobile phone operating networks in zambia had a total of about 4. 6 million subscribers. distinguished participants, this situation grants us an opportunity to develop innovative approaches of extending financial services. it will no doubt involve remodelling of traditional products, service delivery channels and regulatory frameworks. it is important that all possible alternatives are critically examined for viability, safety and efficiency. some of the alternatives that need urgent examination include bank partnerships with non - bank agents to provide wider distribution outlets for payments and other financial services, and leveraging new technologies such as a common national switch to extend financial services. mr chairman, the mobile money transfer has the potential to act as the fulcrum of branchless banking, which allows provision of transactional banking services without the need of a “ brick - and - mortar ” branch. individuals are allowed to remotely access cash using different technologies, which may include automated teller machines, point of sale devices, mobile phones, payment cards or other smart technologies. to ensure that payment service providers take full advantage of the benefits that come with implementation of a mobile money transfer, they must develop and embrace new business models. these models may be built around the existing large financial flows such as remittances, salary and wage benefits, pensions and other government social benefits transfer system. ladies and gentlemen, although mobile money transfer provides a solid platform upon which to anchor expansion in the coverage of financial services, this goal will not be realised unless all stakeholders participate and play their respective roles effectively. accordingly, banks and other payment system businesses need to utilise this infrastructure to the fullest extent possible by ensuring that various products are developed to extend financial services coverage. at the same time, households and businesses need to change their attitude towards non - cash payment methods. it therefore goes without saying that financial education will be critical in shifting public attitudes and ensuring that the non - cash payment methods are widely utilised by the target market. in this