A joint commission of MPs adopted a banking secrecy reform bill with minor changes on Wednesday, according to initial media reports. The bill is pivotal for receiving financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has conditioned its support for Lebanon on the implementation of an anti-corruption framework. Lebanon renewed its request to the IMF in February to be accepted into the financial assistance program, promising transparency and banking sector restructuring.The bill was passed after a full day of debates, during which MPs, outside of Parliament, discussed each of the text's critical provisions at length. The deputy speaker of parliament, Elias Bou Saab, had informed the joint committees that the debates would continue until the text, which contains only a handful of articles and a statement of...