The history of the leaders of the National Bank of Albania in the period 1925–1944

After the declaration of Independence in 1912, several attempts were made to establish an Albanian central bank, but without success. It was only on September 2, 1925, that the official creation of the National Bank of Albania was recorded, with its central office in Rome.

The general policy of the bank was managed by the Administrative Council, composed of 9 to 13 members appointed by the General Assembly, with one member appointed by the Minister of Finance of Albania. The headquarters of the Administrative Council was located in Rome, while the Central Directorate was initially based in Durrës and later moved to Tirana.

In the early years, the management of the National Bank of Albania was entrusted to three influential Italian personalities in politics, economics, and academia, who laid the institutional and monetary foundations of the bank.

The first director was Mario Alberti (1884–1939), an Italian economist and banker. He was a member of Italian financial commissions at the Paris, Cannes, and Genoa Congresses and participated in the committee for German war reparations and debts. In 1925, he was appointed plenipotentiary minister. As a publicist, he collaborated with several of the most prominent economic newspapers and magazines of the time. Alberti founded and directed the National Bank of Albania from 1925 to 1931, playing a key role in building the monetary system based on the gold standard. He was also a professor at Bocconi University and the Catholic University of Milan.

From 1931 to 1935, the bank was managed by Giuseppe Bianchini (1876–1970). A law graduate, he built a career as a lawyer specializing in commercial and administrative law. In 1916, he was entrusted with founding an interbank association, which in 1919 became the Italian Banking Association (ABI), where Bianchini served as general director and later as president. He represented Italy in major international organizations, was a well-known publicist, and founded the magazine *Rivista Bancaria*. In the 1930s, he was elected deputy and later senator, holding key positions in the Ministry of Finance.

From 1935 to 1944, the National Bank of Albania was led by Antonio Mosconi (1866–1947), during one of its most challenging periods, which included the end of the gold standard and the years of World War II. Mosconi was an Italian politician, senator of the Kingdom of Italy since 1920, and Minister of Finance from 1928 to 1932. A law graduate from the University of Padua, he held high state offices, including administration of the Venezia Giulia territories after World War I. He was also president of the National Agricultural Bank, president of the Central Tax Commission, and rector of the Olympic Academy of Vicenza from 1936 to 1944.

"KORCA BOOM"