PRESS RELEASE
Decisions by the Supervisory Council, 28 March 2019

On 28 March 2019, in addition to the decision to keep the policy rate unchanged,  at 1.0%, as well as overnight deposit and overnight loan rates at the Bank of Albania, at 0.1% and 1.9%, respectively, the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania reviewed and decided to:

• Approve the Financial Statements of the Bank of Albania for the year 2018

The financial statements of the Bank of Albania for the year 2018 are compiled in full compliance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). These statements are audited by KPMG Albania sh.p.k. Together with the independent auditor's report, they are an integral part of the Annual Report of the Bank of Albania for 2018. These are the first financial statements of the Bank on which the IFRS 9 “Financial Instruments” are applied.

As at end-2018, the total assets of the Bank of Albania amounted to around ALL 547 billion, around ALL 14 billion higher than at end-2017. Accounting for 35%, investments in foreign securities - part of the international reserve of the Bank of Albania - had the highest share in total assets.

• Approve the Regulation “On licensing, regulation and oversight of operators of securities’ settlement systems"

The Regulation aims to support market developments in the field of private companies’ securities, more concretely in their clearing and settlement through private systems, subject to licencing and oversight by the Bank of Albania and the Albanian Financial Supervision Authority. The secure and efficient operation of these systems guarantees an appropriate post-trading process of transactions taking place in regulated markets/stock exchange.

• Approve the Regulation “On liquidity coverage ratio”

This Regulation lays down the criteria and rules on the calculation of the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) and the requirements of the Bank of Albania, as the supervisory authority on the minimum level of this ratio (in total for all currencies and in total for major foreign currencies).

This new regulation aims to further approximate the regulatory framework of the Bank of Albania to the requirements of the Basel Committee and the European regulations on liquidity risk management.

• Determine the level of competencies exercised by the Bank of Albania on recovery and resolution in banks

The Bank of Albania exercises two significant functions as the responsible authority for supervision and resolution in banks, which are exercised by separate management bodies and organisational units at the Bank of Albania.

In this context, this Decision sets out the level of exercising competencies by management bodies of the Bank of Albania in the decision-making process, related with the Resolution Authority function. The Decision applies the principle of defining competencies closely related with the bodies that perform the relevant specific functions.

The Supervisory Council was also informed on the daily functional and operational activities of the Bank of Albania.