Old problems, new restrictions

As 2014 was winding its way from present to past, the Lebanese market’s top banking buzzword was resilience. In interviews throughout the year as well as in year end conversations with Executive, bankers emphasized the resilience of the sector’s financial results in the face of a challenging environment. The numbers for 2014, as far as they were available for this issue of Facts and Forecasts, have corroborated the sector’s ability to adapt to stress and adversity. But on operational levels, the year for the Lebanese banking industry could also be characterized by another R word: restrictions. From new compliance issues and reporting requirements under the American tax-cheat-catch invention, FATCA, to various foreign threats of new political hunts after Lebanese financial institutions, the year forced local banks to deal with further restraints and risks that had nothing to do with their business skills and everything to do with behavioral supervision. As