Tirana, 5 December 2007 - In a ceremony organized in London, on 28 November 2007, the world-renowned banking magazine The Banker awarded the American Bank of Albania (ABA) with the “Bank of the Year 2007” award for the country of Albania.

The American Bank of Albania received this award for best overall performance in the previous period based on performance criteria, qualitative achievements and strategic initiatives.

On this occasion, Lorenzo Roncari, President and CEO of ABA, said: “I was pleased to receive the Bank of the Year Award for ABA in Albania, not for what we have achieved to become number one, but more for what we are going to do and achieve in the coming years to remain number one. I am proud to say that our staff and management team are already looking forward to this new challenge.”

ABA attributes this award to the hard work and dedication of its employees as well as the vision of its management team, which have constantly distinguished the bank since its establishment in 1998.

The criteria for the assessment of the Bank of the Year Award is built around detailed questionnaires sent to banks by The Banker, and this year 457 banks from 143 countries submitted questionnaires to the magazine’s editorial team.

The judging team took into consideration not only on the latest results, growth rates and performance data over the previous period submitted in the questionnaires but also analyses of all available material including technology, acquisitions and key strategic developments.

This year, The Banker’s eighth annual commercial banking awards ceremony presented 155 “Bracken Statuettes” to winners from a record 143 countries, along with seven regional awards, representing the best commercial banking performances across the globe.

Established in 1998 to assist Albania in its transition to a market economy, the American Bank of Albania has expanded strongly in the past three years and agreement was reached at the end of 2006 with Italy’s Sanpaolo IMI to acquire 80% of ABA at 3.65 times its net worth. The agreement was finalized in June 2007, when ABA officially became a bank of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group.

ABA has continued to expand its branch network and at the end of November this year it served 87,600 customers through 27 branches in Albania and Greece. ABA has been at the forefront of technological innovation and introduced Albania’s first e-deposit product through its Internet banking module ABAflex.

One of its main future business goals is to become a regional bank based on its mission to serve the Albanian communities not only in Albania, but also in Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro.