Bank secrecy: Lebanon finally adopts comprehensive reform to satisfy IMF

For the third time since the onset of the 2019 economic and financial crisis, Lebanese deputies amended this Thursday, March 24, the 1956 banking secrecy law in a plenary session to make it more compatible with international standards and upcoming reforms related to bank resolution. It is the first of the key reforms whose final adoption was promised to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) — along with the draft law establishing a legal framework for bank resolution and the one related to the "financial hole" — at a time when Lebanese officials are meeting with its representatives in Washington.While they took care not to revisit the 10-year retroactive period, which had been introduced at the last minute in Parliament, the text, adopted by 87 votes (against 13), has been enriched with two substantive amendments that expand...