ardian fullani : bank of albania exhibition – “ the currency and financial literacy through it ” speech by mr ardian fullani, governor of the bank of albania, at the opening ceremony of the exhibition of the bank of albania, tirana, 4 october 2013. * * * dear mr speaker of parliament, dear participants, in pursuit of alternatives to present the 100 - year journey of central banking, the bank of albania opens today an exhibition on “ the currency and financial literacy through it ”. the consolidation history of the state and the currency shows they have walked hand in hand over the centuries. we are all aware of the importance of currency in everyday events of our civilisation. cash, lek, franc, ecu, euro, dollar... instruments. call it as you wish. money is important! it is important not only for its functions to pay, save, or deposit, but also as an historical and artistic legacy of a nation ’ s journey through the centuries. to the religious, love for money was the root of all evil. to generals, it was the strongest weapon in the battlefield. to revolutionaries, it represented shackles on the workers wrists. what is money, after all? a mountain of silver, a ceramic tablet, or a piece of paper? how did it evolve into its presentday form, when we seldom see physical money? more often than not, a set of digits on computer screens? where does money come from and how did it evolve? as you will shortly see in the displays, this exhibition seeks to give an answer to these questions in a comprehensive language for all of us. above all, however, it commemorates an important date in history. the opening date for the exhibition “... the bank for albania is a second victory, after freedom... ” is 4 october 2013. today 100 years ago, on behalf of the provisional government of albania, ismail qemal bey vlora signed the first concession agreement on establishing an albanian national bank. at the opening of this exhibition, i feel happy and excited at the same time, not only as the governor of the central bank, but also as an albanian citizen. the exhibition brings to the fore for the albanian public one of the meritable contributions of the father of the country ’ s independence, placing him on the pedestal he rightfully earned through the activity and vision of a real statesman. the history tells us that central banking was not built in a day. it did

##ise practices that do not constitute pure settlement activities, especially in relation to corporate activities, taxes, laws and regulations. t2s will harmonise the real - time life cycle management functionality for settlement instructions. t2s will also harmonise the settlement model and will offer daily real - time and night - time cycle modules. market participants will therefore follow one common set of harmonised settlement procedures irrespective of whether they are settling securities domestically or cross - border. t2s will provide a neutral, borderless, core infrastructure crystallising the gains from harmonisation and providing support for competition between service - providers in the posttrade industry for securities. this will foster the changes required in intermediation between issuers and investors by providing impetus for financial market participants ’ development of a competitive, efficient and secure european financial market. furthermore, t2s will also create a single pool of assets within europe, essentially all of the securities held by participating csds, exchangeable for each other via central bank money at low cost, in real time and in an extremely reliable settlement system. market participants across europe will therefore be able to pool all of their securities in one system, just as cash is now pooled in target2, without the need to distribute and allocate securities and central bank money within several independent national platforms. this will increase the efficiency of collateral management and reduce market participants ’ collateral and / or liquidity needs. t2s will therefore have the effect of reducing market participants ’ costs and contributing to the optimal allocation of investment opportunities. this will also allow for the faster re - use of securities, as well as central bank money – again, for the benefit of market participants. the use of target2 and t2s will eliminate the risk currently associated with cross border settlement, thereby providing for efficient and stable intermediation between buyers and sellers within the capital market segments. these new features will therefore create valuable new options for commercial and investment banks as regards the management of their collateral and the optimisation of their funding costs. the indications given by market participants suggest that this is likely to lead to very significant reductions in costs. this will feed through to increased trading activity, reduced trading spreads and lower service prices, thus improving welfare. europe will benefit from t2s. commercial service - providers will benefit from the level playing - field that a common platform, harmonised rules and practices and reduced complexity will bring. issuers will benefit from lower capital costs. investors will