Before 2006, Near East Commercial Bank (NECB) was going nowhere. “There was no increase in revenues, no increase in assets — no increase at all,” said Dominique Lang, the Swiss banker who has acquired the task of reviving it. “It was, in our opinion, a dormant company, but it had a good name and good staff.” Where the Central Bank saw a stain on Lebanon’s thriving banking scene, Lang saw an opportunity. Playing the long game Lang, a Swiss banker for nearly 30 years and chairman of Nomina Finance in Zurich, and his business partner Alfred Wiederkehr finalized the acquisition of the bank in April of this year — a deal nearly 10 years in the making. NECB has been located at the Place de Beyrouth since 1978 when SNA insurance group owned it, before the Caland family took control. Since 1993, Lang had been aware of Lebanon’s banking potential
