PRESS RELEASE
Decisions by the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania, 5 October 2016

On 5 October 2016, the Supervisory Council of the Bank of Albania, in addition to the decision to leave the key interest rate unchanged at 1.25%, reviewed and decided to:

• Approve the new regulatory framework on the activity of Savings and Loan Associations (SLAs) and their unions in the territory of the Republic of Albania.

Following the approval of the Law No.52/2016, dated 19.05.2016 'On savings and loan associations and their unions" by the Assembly of Albania, the regulatory framework on the activity of savings and loan associations and their unions had to be reviewed and revised, accordingly.

The new regulatory framework was adopted in accordance with the provisions laid down in the new law and consists in the following legal acts:

a) Regulation "On licensing the savings and loan associations and their unions";

b) Regulation "On risk management in the activity of the savings and loan associations and their unions";

c) Reporting System for the Savings and Loan Associations and their Unions;

d) Amendments to the Regulation "On minimum security requirements regarding premises where banking and financial activities are conducted and transportation of monetary values".

The amendments consist in:

• Strengthening the requirements on licensing, which aim at enhancing the accountability of SLAs and their Unions, and strengthens the supervisory role of the Bank of Albania on these entities; 
•  New requirements on risk management, introducing for the first time, the core principles and rules for responsible and effective management, prudential rules and principles of the authority on risks management, rules on SLAs transparency to their members on the products and services they supply, etc.;
• Re-designing the reporting standards to provide the necessary financial and statistical information to enable off-site supervision and to obtain statistical data;
• New requirements on technical and security conditions, which lay down the minimum security conditions to conduct the activity via SLAs' windows.

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