conduct. this is the focus of the financial services professional board ( fspb ) which was established recently with the support of the bank and the securities commission. the fspb ’ s objective is to drive the development as well as the advocacy of professional standards, ethics and continuous professional development across the financial services industry. i would strongly urge the afa to work together with the fspb to develop and implement industry codes of conduct and ethics for its member firms and representatives which should express in very clear terms the professional responsibilities that a financial adviser must demonstrate towards its clients. this should be accompanied by an effective mechanism for investigating and addressing complaints on a breach of these responsibilities, and the ability to act against errant members in order to preserve the integrity of the profession. in line with efforts to ensure a high level of professional competence among financial advisers, the bank also intends to require qualifying and continuing professional development programs for financial advisers to be formally accredited by the finance accreditation agency ( faa ). as you may already know, the faa is an independent quality assurance and accreditation body for the financial services industry that was established by the bank and the securities commission in 2012. it provides programme accreditation, individual accreditation and institutional accreditation services for learning initiatives within the financial services industry locally and internationally. since its inception, faa has registered 28 training providers and accredited 18 professional and academic learning programmes offered in malaysia, the middle east, asia, and the united kingdom, including those offered and recognised by highly reputable and established international professional bodies. faa has also developed continuous professional development guidelines for the financial services industry. the recent launch of the faa learning standards and the finance qualification structure will facilitate the harmonisation and wider recognition of accredited professional learning programmes which will also be important for this industry to promote consistent standards in the professional development and mobility of its workforce. we have started to engage faa, the industry and education providers on this initiative and are working towards the accreditation of mandatory core financial advisory training and examination modules in 2015, and continuing professional development programs progressively thereafter. to improve the alignment between the interests of consumers and financial advisers, we will be requiring all life insurers and family takaful operators to implement a balanced scorecard bis central bankers ’ speeches framework for the remuneration of agents and advisers, beginning with investment - linked products in the initial phase. we believe it is also important that such a framework is cascaded through to how financial advisory firms are rewarding their representatives. incentives for individual representatives should be structured to

ardian fullani : overview of albania ’ s latest economic and financial developments speech by mr ardian fullani, governor of the bank of albania, on the monetary policy decision - making of the bank of albania ’ s supervisory council, tirana, 27 march 2013. * * * today, on 27 march 2013, the supervisory council of the bank of albania reviewed and approved the monthly monetary policy report. based on the most recent monetary and economic developments in albania, and following the discussions on their outlook, the supervisory council of the bank of albania decided to keep the key interest rate unchanged, at 3. 75 %. the council notes that there are appropriate monetary conditions to ensure the achievement of the inflation target in the medium - term period, providing, at the same time, the required monetary stimulus to boost economic activity. let me now proceed with an overview of the economic developments and key issues discussed at today ’ s meeting. * * * annual inflation was 2. 5 % in february, down by 0. 2 percentage points from january. the lower inflation was primarily driven by the falling oil price, due to the base effect of the environmental tax rise in 2012 and the falling global prices. overall, inflation continues to be determined by the rise in food prices. their inflation accounted for about 90 % of february ’ s headline inflation. other basket prices have generally been stable and making low contribution to headline inflation. in the macroeconomic aspect, the general economic and monetary conditions have contributed to keeping inflation low. aggregate demand, in particular, remains sluggish and insufficient to generate full utilisation of production capacities, hence exerting no pressures on producer prices, profit margins and, consequently, the final prices of goods and services. as we have constantly pointed out, below - potential economic growth is and will remain a key factor driving the low inflation. in parallel, global prices, liquidity situation in the albanian economy and financial markets, and economic agents ’ inflation expectations have not and are not expected to generate strong inflation pressures in the medium - term period. indirect information on the performance of the albanian economic activity in the last quarter of 2012 suggests sluggish growth. aggregate demand was primarily driven by the higher exports, while the private domestic demand provided positive, albeit low, contribution. on the other hand, public sector expenditure shrank, hence making a negative contribution to the growth of aggregate demand. there is scarce information on economic developments during the first quarter of 2013. however, the analysis of available indirect data