A bank branch on a street in Jounieh, in January 2024. (Credit: P.H.B./L'Oreint-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — Chadi* was paying 100 “lollars” — dollars trapped in Lebanon’s frozen banking system — every three months to just keep his account open. And he is far from alone. Across Lebanon, depositors have sounded the alarm over what they describe as arbitrary, excessive and opaque charges: Ten dollars for a single bank statement; a 2 percent commission on payments to international websites; a 1.25 percent fee on cash withdrawals and 13 dollars in monthly charges on a "fresh" dollar account. “Before our campaign forced the bank to backtrack, one Lebanese institution had even attempted to impose a $200 ‘lollar’ monthly fee on its clients,” attorney and Depositors’ Union member Dina Abou Zour told L’Orient-Le Jour/Today. More like this Alleged theft from Bankmed clients: Rayya al-Hassan questioned and released Decimated by a...
BEIRUT — Chadi* was paying 100 “lollars” — dollars trapped in Lebanon’s frozen banking system — every three months to just keep his account open. And he is far from alone. Across Lebanon, depositors have sounded the alarm over what they describe as arbitrary, excessive and opaque charges: Ten dollars for a single bank statement; a 2 percent commission on payments to international websites; a 1.25 percent fee on cash withdrawals and 13 dollars in monthly charges on a "fresh" dollar account. “Before our campaign forced the bank to backtrack, one Lebanese institution had even attempted to impose a $200 ‘lollar’ monthly fee on its clients,” attorney and Depositors’ Union member Dina Abou Zour told L’Orient-Le Jour/Today. More like this Alleged theft from Bankmed clients: Rayya al-Hassan questioned and...
