Minding the moneylenders

ENAR

Each year the observers and analysts of Lebanon’s banking performance eagerly await the publication of Bilanbanques, a wholly numbers-driven compendium of data and performance ratios on the banking sector produced by Bankdata Financial Services. Executive sat down for an interview with Dany Baz, Bankdata’s general manager, to enhance our understanding of the latest developments in the sector.   What is your most striking impression from recent data on banking in Lebanon? What strikes me first is once again the resilience of the banking sector that was able to maintain a satisfactory performance despite the increasingly tough operating conditions. The banks that have chosen to expand regionally have handled the downturn in neighboring countries with minimal impact on their financial strength and performance, while banks that focused on the domestic market have had to face the slowdown of the Lebanese economy and the increasingly competitive operating conditions and have also managed