“It was a very frustrating year in terms of investment banking. we had a few successful stories in raising capital for companies but nothing where the core business was in Lebanon. [the way] for people like us to survive is to use Beirut as a base but to do deals or invest in markets outside”
“We are making profits but we are not able to make large profits such as those we would expect in a flourishing economic situation. times are tough but we are fighting, we are working around the clock, our numbers are good. We have witnessed a serious development of the bank”
“On a pure financial side one of the disappointments this year is the increase in the government deficit. we have witnessed an increase in expenditures in the government, at the same time we did not see an improvement in the revenues. our debt over GDP went up”
“Until now [the economy] has not gone bust, but there are difficulties in the different sectors, especially in tourism. banks have not claimed their dues from hotel or restaurant companies. This can last one or two years, but not any longer”
“Lebanon is obviously not what it was 30 years ago but it is still a key market. We are very present vis-à-vis the [Lebanese] diaspora, whether in Europe, in the Middle East, or in Africa and Latin America. We know how the diaspora works and the heartbeat really comes from Beirut”
“There is an unfortunate coincidence between the incidents in the Middle East and the global risk aversion going on. Foreign investors are taking a wait-and-see approach to the ‘Arab Spring’ countries. It has been about two years that net flows into equity markets have been effectively flat”
“Banks are still attracting deposits because the interest rates offered are higher than the ones in Europe and the United States. The good thing is that this increase was enough for the banks to finance the government and the private sector at the same time without a crowding out [effect]”
“We look for places where our colleagues are not present because our markets are very small. In Paris, there are five to six Lebanese banks sharing a very small pie”
