Banking in subdued colors

Gray, when not taken as the zone between black and white but as the color of unobtrusiveness and understatement — as well as secretive sway — has long been employed to characterize issues and people related to management in general and finance in particular. This type of gray is the color of power, and it suits Lebanese banking in 2014, just as it has done historically. But the gray of 2014 has been infused again, and even more so than in 2013, with an enormous caveat of politically induced paralysis. The results of Lebanese banks in 2014 were not terribly surprising at all. Growth in total assets came in at 6.5 percent between December 2013 and September 2014, as per the performance review of the top 14 banks by deposits (the ‘Alpha Group’) which dominate the sector. Alpha banks, currently numbering 14, are defined by Bankdata as banks which hold