Investment funds assets double

TIRANA, Feb. 5 – The two newly established investment funds operating in Albania more than trebled their total assets to 50 billion lek (Euro 352 million) in 2013 according to a report by the Financial Supervisory Authority. The market is mainly dominated by investments in government bonds which account for 84 percent of the funds’ assets, where around 28,442 people have invested.
Currently only two investment funds, Raiffeisen Prestigj and Raiffeisen Invest Euro operate in Albania. The funds were established in early 2012 by Raiffeisen Bank Albania, the leading commercial bank operating in Albania. Investment funds include a supply of capital belonging to numerous investors that is used to collectively purchase securities while each investor retains ownership and control their own shares.
Raiffeisen Invest was the first company in Albania for asset management licensed by the Authority while Raiffeisen Prestigj is the first investment fund.
Investment funds, supervised by the Financial Supervisory Authority, accounted for 1.1 percent of the GDP at the end of 2012 compared to 1.5 percent of the GDP for the insurance companies and 0.02 percent by pension funds, according to central bank data. The banking system supervised by the central bank accounted for 87.9 percent of the GDP, non-banking financial institutions for 2.6 percent and saving and credit unions with 0.78 percent of the GDP, according to a financial stability report by the Bank of Albania.