PRESS RELEASE
Speech by Mr. Ardian Fullani, Governor of the Bank of Albania, on the Conclusion of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Bank of Albania and the Competition Authority

Today on 17 July 2007, at the Bank of Albania premises, the Bank of Albania and the Competition Authority concluded the Memorandum of Understanding in the area of protecting free and effective competition in the banking and financial market. This memorandum was signed by Mr. Ardian Fullani, Governor of the

The formalization of the co-operation between the two institutions with the conclusion of this memorandum is essential, considering that the rapid developments in the banking and financial sector are being pushed as a result of the new competitive environment, conditioned by the integration of our economy into the regional and European markets and by the strong investment inflows in the financial sector.

This memorandum provides to both institutions the necessary grounds for enhancing their mutual co-operation, by exchanging information and expertise to improve the current situation in the banking and financial market in terms of competition level, and to eliminate cases of restrictions, impediments or distortions of competition in this market.

In more concrete terms, through this co-operation, both institutions will aim to take appropriate measures for identifying and preventing the horizontal restrictions of competition (agreements for services prices, interest rates, markets territories etc.), the vertical restrictions of competition (discrimination through the interest rates for different clients in the same market, discrimination through the limitations and specific requirements for guarantee and other terms for clients under equal conditions in the same market etc.), as well as to eliminate the possible abuse of one or a few banks to dominate the market.

Following the conclusion of the memorandum, the Governor of the Bank of Albania and the Chairwoman of Competition Authority shared the same opinion that this constitutes a crucial step to the process of European integration, where competition in the banking sector is of particular importance, in order to have a sound financial system, where the clients and the public at large would gain the benefits from.

The Bank of Albania considers the conclusion of this memorandum as a cornerstone which will overwhelmingly affect the enhancement of real competition conditions, in which the banking and financial activity are currently being conducted. It is worth underlining that fair competition promotes the efficiency in the banking business and refines the composition and the functioning of the banking market. The Bank of Albania will make its utmost efforts to make the co-operation deriving from this agreement as concrete as possible and with direct impact on achieving a real, fair and efficient market competition.

This Memorandum of Understanding becomes effective upon its signing by both parties.