The entrance to the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL), when it was still regularly ransacked by demonstrations organized in the wake of the Oct. 17, 2019 protest. (Credit: NNA)
Particularly active in the media at the start of the crisis in 2019, the Association of Lebanese Banks (ABL) had virtually ceased all official communication for months, in a context where the authorities have still not launched the reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), including the one to restructure the banking sector and absorb the country's liabilities.
This silence ended on Wednesday with a brief statement indicating that the ABL Board of Directors had met on the same day to discuss “various issues,” a week after the visit by an IMF delegation to take the pulse of the country. “The Board unanimously stressed the need to approach any restructuring plan on legal and scientific grounds, based on the need to return deposits and preserve the banking sector,” the ABL said.
When contacted, a source within the association, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the move was essentially aimed at “displaying unity” among the banks, after press reports had suggested the existence of divisions within the sector over the attitude to adopt towards the IMF. A reference to the discreet meeting held between the IMF delegation and at least five major banks – Bank Audi, Bank Med, BLOM Bank, BLF and Byblos Bank – all members of the ABL Board of Directors, which is headed by Bank of Beirut CEO Salim Sfeir.
The IMF expects the banks to contribute to repaying part of the country's liabilities of over $70 billion but ABL's position to date has been that the state, and therefore the public purse and the taxpayer, should bear the brunt of the bill.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.