On the lending prowl

The latest newcomer to the top ‘alpha group’ category of banks — those with more than $2 billion in deposits — is Creditbank, a player that aims to be the lender of first resort to Lebanon’s private sector enterprises. The bank achieved 20 percent growth in deposits in 2013 to reach $2.3 billion at year-end. This not only facilitated the leap into the alpha group but also put it at the top of the growth charts among the now 14 alpha group banks. Compared with the peer group’s growth of deposits, Creditbank expanded at more than twice the average percentage rate in 2013, and it also reported the highest growth in assets in percentage terms. The bank’s growth was above 19 percent on both, but it had a head start on percentages because it rose from the lowest absolute figures in the peer group. Creditbank’s overall shares in alpha group