The headquarters of Byblos Bank Syria.Photo taken from the Byblos Bank Syria Facebook account
Banque BEMO Saudi Fransi (BBSF), 22 percent owned by Lebanon's Banque BEMO, is in the process of acquiring the shares of Byblos Bank Syria, the Syrian subsidiary of Lebanon's Byblos Bank. This acquisition marks the departure of Byblos Bank from the Syrian market, after 19 years of activity in the country.
"Despite the bad situation in Syria, BBSF is doing well and has a better business than the majority of banks operating there, and this acquisition represents a good opportunity," Riad Obegi, CEO of Banque BEMO and member of the Board of Directors of BBSF, established in Syria in 2004 and listed on the Damascus Stock Exchange since 2009, told L'Orient-Le Jour. When contacted, Byblos Bank declined to comment on the transaction, stating that it had not yet been finalized. At the end of 2020, BBSF had also acquired Bank Audi Liban's 47 percent stake in Bank Audi Syria.
Having already obtained the approval of the Syrian Central Bank and the Syrian government, the closing of this transaction still depends on the finalization of administrative formalities, specified Obegi. "Once the deal is closed, Byblos Bank Syria will change its name to Shahba Bank. We do not intend to merge the activities of these three banks [BBSF, Bank Audi and Shahba Bank]. Each will retain its autonomy and its own positioning on the Syrian market," he emphasized.
Byblos Bank Syria's staff and ten or so branches will also change hands and should operate at full capacity. "We don't expect any redundancies or branch closures," Obegi added. This will bring the number of branches operated by the BBSF group in Syria to over 50.
In December 2021, two years after the onset of the financial crisis in Lebanon, Byblos Bank, which had been operating in Cyprus since 1984, had already sold its activities on the island to the Cypriot AstroBank brand, in which the holding company of former BLC Bank CEO Maurice Sehnaoui holds almost 21 percent of the capital. This transaction included the branch that Byblos Bank operated on the island, as well as its assets, customer portfolios and staff. At the time, Byblos Bank explained that the decision to sell its Cyprus operations had been taken as part of a shift in its international presence strategy.
According to its website, Bank Byblos is still present in Lebanon, Iraq, Armenia, Nigeria and Europe (with three offices in France, Belgium and the UK). Banque BEMO is present in Luxembourg, Cyprus and Syria.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.