Ardian Fullani

Ardian Fullani (born 1955) was the governor of the Bank of Albania from 2004 until 06 September 2014. He graduated at the Faculty of Economics, University of Tirana. He instantiated the Governor's Award, an annual award given to the best diploma dissertations prepared by Albanian undergraduate students.

Fullani graduated from the University of Tirana in Finance in 1977 and Law in 1991.

He commenced his work at the State Bank of Albania in 1985 and served as the Deputy Director of Foreign Department from 1987 until 1990. In the following years, Fullani was the Head of the Foreign Relations Department at the Albanian Commercial Bank.

Fullani joined the Bank of Albania in 1992 as the Deputy Governor. In 1993, he was appointed Head of the Foreign Relations Department and served in this position until 1996. During this period, he contributed to establishing a modern central bank; drafting the regulatory framework, particularly on foreign exchange market operations and foreign reserve management policies, and designing and coordinating Bank of Albania’s strategies for cooperation with the IMF, WB, EBRD and other international financial institutions.

During 1996-1997, Fullani focused his career on consultancy in national and international development projects, such as German-Albanian projects on: financing small and medium-sized enterprises in agriculture and agro-industry; foreign exchange market restructuring and institutionalization, and capital market development and analysis in Albania.

His experience with the Italian-Albanian Bank covers the years 1997-2004, initially as the Deputy General Manager and Head of the Financial Department (1997-2000) and later as the General Manager (2000-2004). He has also held other prominent positions such as President of the Albanian Association of Banks, Chairman of the Institute of Banking Studies and Assistance, and Commissioner of the Albanian Securities Commission.

In his career, Fullani has coordinated a number of foreign-financed investment projects in Albania (e.g. FEFAD, Foundation for Enterprise Finance and Development, and KFW, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau). He has been the Albanian coordinator for the establishment and licensing of the first joint-stock commercial banks (the Italian Albanian Bank and the Arab Albanian Islamic Bank), as well as a coordinator and member in the Albanian External Debt Committee with the Paris Club and the Advisory Committee of 40 crediting banks, for reconciliation and rescheduling of Albania’s debts in arrears.

He is fluent in English, Italian and German.

Fullani has been the Governor of the Bank of Albania and Chairman of its Supervisory Council since October 2004.

Governor Fullani is awarded the title Commendatore dell'Ordine della Stella della solidarietà italiana/Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, by the President of the Republic of Italy.

Fullani was arrested on 05 September 2014 under the accusation of abuse of the power, related with a steal scandal in Bank of Albania. He initially refused to step down