TIRANA, October 2 /ATA/- Governor of the Bank of Albania Gent Sejko stated that the Central Bank and the second-tier commercial banks already have well-established and secure credit risk regulations in large projects, such as Private Public Partnership projects, and do not allow funding if the criteria and rules are violated.
In answer to questions of journalists about concerns of the Democratic Party leader Lulzim Basha over financing of the Private Public Partnership (PPP) projects by the banking sector, Governor Sejko said during a press conference in Tirana today that, “We have constantly highlighted the position of banks against credit risk. Mr. Basha’s letter dealt with credit risk related to PPP projects. The second-tier commercial banks have tightened the risk criteria after the 2008 crisis and this has also affected crediting to economy”.
“PPP lending is conditioned on certain criteria and these are on the focus of second-tier commercial banks. The central bank has drafted its own regulations on risk criteria, and the banks have their own criteria. If the projects meet the conditions, they will be financed. These projects represent great value and a bank cannot support them alone, which would require a bank union. The Central Bank is careful to see that lending quality is maintained and would like to see a qualitative increase in lending. The second risk has to do with money laundering. The Central Bank has also set up a regulatory framework for managing this risk as a supervisory institution, but the banks themselves have strict filters and criteria to prevent money laundering. The commercial banks have created very good control systems. We have no indication that certain banks are exposed to this risk. I also refer to the Moneyval report according to which the banking system is evaluated highly,” said Sejko./e.xh/r.e/p.s./
