12, 539 bank employee 1, 388 1, 108 number of employees number of branches, agencies number of employees per : bank banking unit number of inhabitants per : table 3 : the expansion of the banks ’ network by the end of the 9 - month period of 2006banks nof no. banks no. of branches no. of agencies raiffeisen bank national commercial bank united bank of albania italian albanian bank italian development bank ( former dardania ) tirana bank national bank of greece ( tirana branch ) international commercial bank alpha bank ( tirana branch ) american bank of albania procredit bank first investment branch ) emporiki bank credit bank of albania credins bank banka popullore union bank total bank ( tirana according to instat, the population of albania totalled 3, 102, 777 inhabitants in 2003, 3, 119, 543 in 2004 and 3, 134, 982 in 2005. 5. the implementation of the automatic electronic clearing house ( aech ) project after the introduction of the rtgs system for the settlement of gross payments, the payments infrastructure expanded with the automatic electronic clearing house ( aech ) system, which aims at reducing the processing time of small value payments considerably, encouraging as such the use of banking payments. over the present year, significant improvements have been made in terms of the information technology and communication with commercial banks, which has been indicated by the programmes used and by the purchase of new programmes by several banks. these programmes constitute a better sustaining for the banking accounting manual requirements and serve to the needs of the institution to expand the activity and introduce new services, such as e - banking. 6. the review of the legal framework related to the payment system in the country, paying a special attention to that part which supports the new payment instruments and actors in the country the abovementioned developments in technology and information have been supported by the bank of albania through the formulation of the regulation ” on the use of information technology and communication of the entities licensed by the bank of albania ”, approved upon the supervisory council decision no. 32, dated 3 may 2006. this regulation will not only assist the provision of a more prudent and complete supervision of the information technology and communication used by banks, but at the same time it will help banks in their day - to - day work and in the use of this technology. moreover, it will increase the security measures that banks should apply in order to provide the security and the good use of the information

kind of interbank cooperation would not only serve to increasing the amount of payments channelled through banks, but also to enhancing the competition. another difficulty encountered in this context is the implementation of bank accounts direct crediting by the utilities. this has been due to the concentration of these companies in certain banks, and also because of the problems encountered in the standardization of the bills according to particular banks ’ requirements. the bank of albania continues to be committed to finding a solution to these problems. 3. the expansion of the atms and the pos ( point of sale ) automated teller machines ( atms ) experienced a further development over 2005 - 2006. most banks have established a number of atms in tirana and in other main cities throughout the country. the number of electronic terminals has grown from 93 at the end 2004 to 266 in august of the present year, while the number of users has increased from 34, 090 to about 295, 250. atms are used through debit cards, but credit cards are also being widely used. both visa and mastercard are actively being used in albania and most banks are members in one of them, providing the respective cards. although the use of cards is still limited, the growing number of service units accepting electronic payments ( pos - point of sale ) from 155 in december 2004, to 1073 in august 2006, and the gradual change of the attitude favouring the holding of cash will lead to the enhancement of the use of cards as a mean of payment. the service of electronic transactions ( e - banking ) as a banking product began four years ago, although it may be said that it has not reached satisfying levels as far as its introduction and the use by the public is concerned. so far, two banks have been providing this service to particular clients ( mainly businesses ) for the carrying out of transfers, different payments etc. over the present year, other banks have planned to provide this service. table 1 : number of cards and atm / pos cash cards 26, 736 173, 161. 00 220, 657. 00 debit cards 6, 552 50, 066. 00 70, 176. 00 credit cards 2, 550. 00 4, 245. 00 136. 00 169. 00 pre - paid cards total 34, 094 225, 913. 00 295, 247. 00 atm 205. 00 266. 00 ef / pos terminals 779. 00 1, 073. 00 4. the network and