A good foot forward

Lebanese banks have shown resilient results amid the relatively tough operating environment that characterized the first quarter of 2011. The ‘Alpha Report’ — a detailed performance synopsis of the top 12 Lebanese banks, issued by Bankdata Financial Services — showed that total assets grew by almost 4 percent over the quarter and 11.6 percent year-on-year (YoY). In parallel, customer deposits grew 3.8 percent over the quarter and 13.4 percent YoY, representing a sustained healthy performance although at a lower pace than had been registered over the past couple of years. Evidently, given the market pressures at the beginning of the year, the rise was almost fully accounted for by foreign currency components. The most significant development of the quarter rests in the 8.5 percent growth in loans over the quarter and 25.4 percent YoY. This bears witness to the continuing lending activity of Lebanese banks benefiting from strong liquidity levels,