In this archive photo from April 18, 2023, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri calls for attention as the Parliament resolves to push back the local elections by another year. On April 24, 2025, about a month ahead from the elections, Berri has vowed not to let this happen. (Credit: Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu Agency via AFP)
BEIRUT — Lebanese MPs approved a long-awaited bill lifting banking secrecy on Thursday, a key reform on which financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is dependent.
The bill was endorsed by joint parliamentary committees on April 16 and its approval in Parliament comes at a time when Lebanese officials are meeting representatives of the world's financial institutions in Washington.
The vote on the bill was closely watched, particularly by the IMF and World Bank. Lebanon recently renewed its request for a financial assistance program from the IMF, which, since the economic crisis of 2019 spurred on by corruption and mismanagement, has insisted Lebanon improve transparency in the banking sector before receiving funds.
Parliament specified that the new banking secrecy law applies retroactively for 10 years, covering the start of the economic crisis, during which bankers are accused of aiding certain public figures to transfer large sums of money abroad.
According to a judicial source closely following the case, the deputies backtracked on amendments that had been approved in the joint committees, specifically on the role of independent auditors and evaluators, bringing the law more in line with what the IMF is demanding.
Lebanon has long-standing and strict rules on the confidentiality of bank accounts, which critics say leaves the country vulnerable to money laundering.
According to the Lebanese rights group Legal Agenda, the amendments authorize “banking supervisory and regulatory bodies ... to request access to all information” without providing any particular reason.
These bodies will be able to access information such as customer names and deposit details, and investigate any suspicious activities, Legal Agenda explains.
The MPs also passed a bill amending the Law on the Code of Money and Credit, to allow the Banque du Liban (BDL) to print banknotes of LL500,000 and one million Lebanese pounds, and postponed for two weeks consideration of the bill increasing Lebanon's contribution to the IMF, at the request of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.
During its Thursday evening session, the MPs also approved an amendment to the law on the pension fund for private-sector teachers. Under the original law passed in early April, schools were required to contribute 8 percent of teachers' salaries to this fund, a rate that has now been reduced to 6 percent, according to the text of the amendment, which was obtained by L'Orient-Le Jour.
This contribution will also be paid partly in dollars and partly in Lebanese Lira, depending on what is paid to teachers, unlike the previous version of the amendment, in which the entire amount was paid in dollars. The retroactive effect of the law has also been cancelled, and it will be effective from next October. In addition, the text will no longer apply to contract staff, unlike the previous version, as schools consider that end-of-service indemnities for contract staff are already paid in current salaries. On the other hand, schools will be required to obtain a quitus, the cancellation of which had been demanded by private schools. This law will remain in force until the adoption of a new salary rate for teachers.
Beirut's municipal elections wiped off the agenda
One key issue MPs expected to be debating Thursday was the preservation of the Islamic-Christian power-sharing parity within Beirut’s municipal council. Although not codified in law, this balance has been maintained through an informal consensus. Some fear it may now be at risk following the election boycott by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and his Future Movement, the leading Sunni political party in the capital.
However, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri opted to remove the item from the agenda, while promising that the elections themselves would not be postponed.
Berri had initially insisted that the session, which was adjourned shortly before 3 p.m. and is due to resume at 6 p.m., "will not be adjourned until the issue of the municipality of Beirut has been discussed.”
MPs Ghassan Hasbani, Nicolas Sehnaoui, Nadim Gemayel, Fouad Makhzoumi, Fayçal Sayegh and Hagop Terzian had presented a bill amending certain provisions relating to Beirut city council.
According to al-Jadeed, Salam proposed postponing discussion of all bills relating to municipal elections, claiming that they required a great deal of debate, to which Berri agreed, saying he had entrusted the bills to “a specialized committee.”
Some MPs made sectarian comments during the session, which Berri condemned as "inadmissable."
"As Parliament, we must absorb everything," he said. "The MP is a representative of the whole nation and this is stipulated in the Constitution.“
”There will be no postponement of the municipal elections," he emphasized.
Berri had initially rejected any amendment to the electoral law ensuring parity on the municipal ballot, but recently made a 180-degree turn, a reveral that some observers say may reflect electoral calculations by the Amal-Hezbollah alliance, eager to secure its share of seats in the future municipal council and avoid appearing politically weakened.
Parliament criticized for loosing 'interest in southern Lebanon'
Two laws concerning the South that had originally appeared on the agenda — one on the reconstruction of buildings damaged by Israeli strikes, and the second on payment exemptions for water and electricity bills in border regions — were stripped of their double emergency status, sending them back to the committees.
This decision was strongly criticized by Amal Movement MP Kabalan Kabalan, who denounced the fact that “nobody is interested in southern Lebanon,” ravaged by a brutal Israeli bombing campaign and then decimated further by Israeli troops who razed entire villages to the ground under cover of the cease-fire deal.
Berri reminded MPs that “even prefabricated houses are being destroyed by the Israeli enemy,” which continues to bombed southern Lebanon despite the truce.
During the evening session, Parliament is expected to discuss texts concerning rents,as well as a bill concerning the education sector. A text banning money transfers to Syrians via banks in Lebanon, put forward by MPs Elie Abou Najm, Simon Abi Ramia, Elias Bou Saab and Alain Aoun, will also be debated.
Also on the agenda is a law to raise the retirement pensions of the army, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) and General Security. Dozens of military personnel gathered in front of the Parliament building to urge MPs to pass the bill.
