Everything needed so that the financing of the economy does not stop - a testimony from the Recovery Unit Director, A. Elezi

Hello, my name is Aurora and I am the Director of the Credit Recovery Unit at NOA.

As a financial institution with an activity which spans 21 years, in these times full of challenges for the country, we see it vital to respond with as much correctness, professionalism and responsibility to the businesses, farmers and households that we serve with our financing.

The social and financial impact caused by Covid-19 is felt immediately in every segment of the economy. As a lending institution specializing in financing small businesses, farmers and households, my colleagues at NOA have felt more than anyone the great pressure that the pandemic is putting on the Albanian economy.

Based on the analysis of the last two months, we can say that the most affected activity is that of the clients of the service sector, mainly passenger transport/coffee bars/restaurants, etc., as well as the trade sector, excluding those of food products. At the same time, the necessary distancing measures have had an impact on the Agro sector, especially for customers located in rural areas without access to anything other than the national road.

The ban on the activity of customers affected by the measures taken to prevent Covid-19, has unfortunately led to a deterioration of their solvency. This is true for both the group of clients with income from business and the group of clients with income from employment.

Given this difficult context for the entire economy of the country and for our customers in particular, NOA has responded immediately by ensuring, on the one hand the operational continuity of our activities, and on the other hand, a specific treatment for customers directly affected by the pandemic of Covid-19. Our objective is twofold: we should never cut off our funding for businesses in need, and at the same time, we should support those who were suddenly disabled in their repayment capacity.

Faced with this situation, we have immediately set up dedicated working groups to ensure as soon as possible the coordination of contact by all our staff in the branch, with any client who has encountered difficulties during this period. This includes, of course, the role of the central directorate that has ensured the continuity of any operational process in support of our clients’ requests. This quick contact was intended first to ensure the good health of our associates and clients, and further to assess the financial impact on their activity by prioritizing those who were most affected. By organizing in a very short time the establishment of distant contacts with them, we believe that we have somehow managed to buffer the additional costs that could arise from this unforeseen crisis for all of us.

Always faithful to our founding values, NOA has fully adhered to the mission goal on which we were created 21 years ago as a USAID project. It is precisely because of our corporate values ​​that all our staff naturally placed the focus towards the positive economic and social impact of our customers. In this challenging situation for thousands of Albanian businesses, our primary objective was oriented towards ensuring at every moment the continuation of the activity of our clients. In practical terms, this necessarily goes beyond supporting them with relief payment policies.

But in addition to rescheduling in support of affected customers, we have also stayed close to the needs of those customers who showed liquidity demands. By offering financial products with facilitating terms and conditions, specifically for this period, we have tried our best to give an answer to each of them.

What does all this represent in real terms?

There are 3,200 financing of businesses, farmers and households whose payment calendars have been postponed, and which represent a loan portfolio of 15 million Euros.

These postponements were in full compliance with the Decision of the Bank of Albania and the order issued by the Prime Minister and the Governor of the Bank of Albania to extend the loan repayment period for businesses and households that may face difficulties during this period due to COVID -19.

In addition to the above, our staff has also modelled a process which offers clients several options in adapting the payment plan according to their financial expectations. Exchanges could be conducted through live interviews or through the online application platform of these requests created specifically for this situation. After that, while maintaining the necessary flexibility in accordance with the needs of the clients, the most relieving offer is chosen for each of them, by adapting the financing in the short-term periods or by offering remodels for the medium-term and long-term periods.

In all these exchanges, it remains essential to maintain a long-term relationship with the client by staying much closer in these difficult moments.

Customers are provided with relief without any payment for the period of 2-3 months, moratorium as it is called in the technical language for stopped assets, or grace with payment only monthly interest for those activities that have continued to operate but with declining income that has affected their paying ability. Also for many business clients and farmers, loan payment plans have been remodelled beyond the 2-3 month crisis period, offering the possibility of irregular instalments in full accordance with the expected cash flow situation and the needs of our clients.

As for all my colleagues and every country mate employed in the private sector, what we experienced has been a challenging and difficult to predict period. But the fact remains that all together, we succeeded. Albania’s economy did not stop at any moment and a special thanks goes to every entrepreneur and farmer, and to every employee who continued normal activities with perseverance, and even courage.

For NOA, the key to success in our response to meeting the needs of our customers in record time is first related to our company’s primary focus on ensuring the health of our employees and customers; on the spirit of cooperation and mutual support within our large NOA family; on the sacrifice of our colleagues in every branch being close to our clients at all times in this 2-month period. I would like to remind you that our branches have remained open throughout the period we are leaving behind. Likewise, our teams in the central directorate have not stopped their engagement in the service of business at any moment.

At the end of this article, I reiterate the commitment of every NOA staff to continue to provide easy financial support in the payment calendar to any client in need, as well as the fact that we will always remain ready to finance any request for financing, always focusing on the recovery of our economy through the support of small business, and Albanian farmers in the post-pandemic phase.