Publication of the decree on the banking secrecy law bill

The decree sending a bill to Parliament to amend the banking secrecy law was published on Wednesday. "Decree No. 103, dated April 2, 2025, was published this afternoon, ordering the transmission of a bill to Parliament to amend articles of the 1956 banking secrecy law, as well as Article 150 of the 1963 currency law," reported the state-run National News Agency (NNA).

The decree beared the signatures of the president, Joseph Aoun, the prime minister, Nawaf Salam, and the finance minister, Yassine Jaber.

Last Thursday, the government allowed the Salam government to make the halfway progress necessary to expand the scope of Law No. 306 of 2022 lifting banking secrecy, pending Parliament's review of the text. The ministers indeed approved the project presented by Jaber, a member of the Amal Movement led by the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berryi.

This project extended the power granted to several authorized entities, including the Central Bank and the Banking Control Commission, allowing them to lift banking secrecy to identify account holders opened in Lebanon as part of their oversight missions. The problem is that it also contained a provision drastically limiting its retroactivity.