Banking economists on the Lebanese banking sector

ENAR

Bankers are people. Brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, spouses, children, cousins, clients, business advisors, financial partners, and friends of other Lebanese people. Given that over 25,000 individuals are employed in the local banking sector, with high percentages of them being women (in comparison to most not “traditionally female” professions) in a banking workforce that is composed overwhelmingly of university graduates in their most productive years, it would be strange if most Lebanese were not either connected to a banker themselves or by one or a few degrees of separation to someone else who has a personal connection to someone in the banking industry. Young bankers with positions of responsibility were among the peaceful and cheerful Martyrs’ Square crowds shouting thawra (revolution) last November that today seem like a distant dream of hope of a reformed Lebanon that belongs to its people.  But in the public discussions that have been raging for