Innovation and IT Minister Pollo said government intended to establish a Computer Emergency Response Team to identify possible hackers and illegal online actions
TIRANA, May 23 – The government has called on commercial banks operating in Albania to offer internet and mobile banking services at minimum or zero tariffs. In a forum on banking and technology held last weekend in Tirana, Innovation and IT Minister Genc Pollo said lower tariffs would help promote the use of these services which save time and effort. “Last year we urged second tier banks, among them Raiffeisen and BKT, to offer internet and mobile banking, and, currently, the progress is considerable in the whole sector. We hope that low cost on-line banking services will lead to zero or minimum costs for customers,” said Pollo. The Minister said the application of the 3G technology, which is currently offered by a single mobile operator but scheduled to have other licenses, will increase connectivity and internet speed even on mobile phones. Latest data by the Electronic and Postal Communication Authority show the number of mobile phone subscribers having internet access rose to 1.2 million at the end of 2010 or 27 percent of the total 4.5 million mobile subscribers. Speaking of the internet security, Minister Pollo said the government intended to establish a Computer Emergency Response Team to identify possible hackers and illegal online actions on government websites as well as private sites such as banks and other public utilities. The low level of on-line banking was also confirmed in the latest financial stability report by the Bank of Albania. Data show only 27,000 out of a total of 2.5 million bank accounts can be accessed online which is slightly more than 1 percent of the total. However, compared to 2009, the number of online accounts registered a 82 percent increase in 2010. Home banking is also increasing. Since its launch in 2005, the service is now offered by 11 of the 16 banks operating in Albania. Last year some 163,000 home banking electronic transactions were registered, worth 92 billion lek and accounting for 3 percent of total payments by customers. Only 5 percent of people possessing bank cards used them for purchases in authorized Points of Sale (POS) during 2010, the central bank said in its latest financial stability report. The remaining 95 percent of preferred cash withdrawal from ATMs, revealing the ongoing trend of cash-dominated payments despite the rising number of customers having a bank account. Data show only 7 of the 14 banks licensed to issue cards enable their clients to make purchases through them in POS at shops, restaurants, hotels or trade centres. The number of people with bank accounts to make payments in lek or foreign currency rose by 17 percent to 2.5 million accounts at the end of 2010. Central bank data reported approximately 10.5 million transactions–worth 108 billion lek– were made in 2010 through ATMs and POS. A recent study published by the Competition Authority stated that commercial banks operating in Albania are not transparent with their customers and charge higher fees even in comparison to regional branches in the Balkans. The study covering the period between the end of 2009 and 2010 also reported that banks often charge fees in Euros rather than the national currency, lek, for some services such as current accounts or cheques; consequently putting consumers at risk of being charged unfavorable currency exchange rates, even in regular transactions. The monitoring also revealed that second-tier banks in Albania, which are overwhelmingly foreign-owned, apply different fees for the same services and do not notify their customers when commissions increase, violating the regulation on the transparency of banking products and services.
