The Capital Structure of Banks in Albania by Country of Ownership 2012

The Albanian banking system is characterized by a relatively large number of private banks (16), financed primarily through deposits, and focused on the lending activity, mainly for businesses. The shareholder’s equity structure of the Albanian banks is featured in the table below (updated as of 30/06/2012):

Capital Structure of Banks in Albania (As of June 2012)

^{Source: Bank of Albania
Comments and analysis: ODA}

As can be seen from the table, the entire banking system is now privatized, and the largest share of the capital is owned by foreign entities. Graphically the distribution of capital according to country origin is shown below:
 


^{Source: Bank of Albania
Comments and analysis: ODA}

The country which holds the largest  part of the capital is Greece (18.75%), followed by Italy (12.5%), France (11.7%) and local capital (10.66%).

Compared to 2010, there is a reduction of the amount of capital held by Greece (from 25% to 18.75%), and an increase of capital held from France (from 4.69% to 11.72%). This is the result of the acquisition of Emporiki Bank from Credit Agricole. Also there is a decrease of ownership from supranational institutions (from 4.71% to 4.22%).

Other countries with an important weight are Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Kuwait and Turkey. The Albanian banking system does not present a noticeable concentration of capital in a particular country, and this can be considered a positive element due to the diversification effect.