gent sejko : address on remittances of the albania diaspora welcome address by mr gent sejko, governor of the bank of albania, at the high - level meeting on the remittances of the albanian diaspora, tirana, 14 december 2018. * * * your excellency, minister majko, dear guests and colleagues, it is a special pleasure to open today ’ s meeting, which takes place after a year of intensive coordinated effort between our institutions toward the achievement of common objectives in relation to remittances of the diaspora, and other important issues. today, a year after the memorandum of understanding was signed, i have the pleasure of noting that the materialization of these efforts has been reflected in the undertaking of a number of commitments and projects in pursuit of the objectives set out below. the importance of remittances to the albanian economy, to family welfare and to development in general is highlighted in many communications of the bank of albania. in this context, during 2018, the bank of albania engaged its resources in developments aimed at creating the necessary prerequisites for an efficient channelling of such incomes into the albanian economy. international initiatives in the field of remittances underline the importance of reducing the costs and increasing the efficiency of remittance services, thus implying the need to intervene in the retail payment market, in both remittance - sending and remittance - receiving countries. for this reason, the bank of albania, as we have pointed out at the beginning of this cooperation, has engaged in a series of projects aimed at analysing the domestic market with a view to identifying and addressing the needs for intervention. these projects are assisted by the world bank and funded by the seco. i take this opportunity to once again thank these institutions for their contribution and support. moreover, the bank of albania and the national payment systems committee has already adopted and is implementing the national strategy for the retail payments market. this strategy aims to create a contemporary and comprehensive market of retail payments, supported by secure and efficient infrastructures, as well as by a wide range of payment instruments and services that meet the needs of financially capable individuals to make payments across the country. incorporating financial inclusion into the bank of albania ’ s objectives, this strategy has set ambitious quantitative targets aimed at doubling the number of bank account holders ( from 38 % in 2014 to 70 % in 2022 ) and increasing the number of electronic payments per capita ( from 4.

dimiter kostov : the world of finance is becoming more it address by mr dimiter kostov, deputy governor of the bulgarian national bank, banking department and fiscal services department, before the participants in the 14th financial it forum “ the world of finance is becoming more it ”, sofia, 19 april 2012. * * * ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the bulgarian national bank, i have the honour to congratulate you with the opening of the 14th financial it forum. this forum has established itself as an annual opportunity to share experience and ideas, and to view the prospects opened to the financial sector by the information and communication technologies. these results are undoubtedly owing to the organizers of the event, but what is of no less importance is your interest to it. from the point of view of the business, times are still hard for financial intermediation. in the conditions of volatile international financial markets and an unstable economy, the bulgarian banking system is coping well with the challenges and remains stable. the levels of capital adequacy and liquidity remain high. irrespective of the increased impairment costs the banking system continues generating positive results. it is of no little importance, too, that in these conditions the banking system managed to preserve and even to slightly increase its loan portfolio. in the recent three years the economic activity in the country has contracted by about 3 percent, while the loan portfolio not only did not contract, but grew by about 8 percent. the results achieved indicate that in this difficult macroeconomic environment the banking system has not only preserved its reliability, but has continued to perform its economic role of financial intermediary. another positive trend is especially worth noting, prompted by this forum. banks are not focusing only on coping with current issues and obstacles. regardless of the difficulties, banks are putting much thought and effort into developing and implementing new business solutions and products based on the opportunities offered by the information and communications technologies. new solutions are sought not only in the area of good management of risks and business processes, but also in developing new services and sales channels. i would not allow myself to give examples from the experience of one or another bank. the forum will provide plenty of opportunities to find this out for yourselves. i will use as illustration of my words the payment infrastructure. the connectivity achieved by the operator of the main retail payment systems in this country in the past year, presently makes available to the bulgarian banks the so - called sepa connectivity to several thousand banks in the european union