In a year where deadlines for global economic recovery were repeatedly pushed back like a teenager’s weekend curfew, Lebanon’s banks managed to sail through 2010 with relative ease. Commercial banks’ total assets climbed 10 percent year-on-year to $126.7 billion at the end of September, despite a slight falling off of capital inflows. Deposits constituted 82 percent of the banks’ balance sheets, growing by 8.4 percent to reach $103.9 billion at the end of the third quarter. Ninety percent of that deposit growth was contributed by residents while, in line with capital inflows trends, new non-resident deposits shrank to 10 percent of the total, after constituting 28 percent over the same period in 2009. Net profits increased by 37 percent in the first nine months of the year, but the real battle cry of the banking sector in 2010 was lending. Celebrated by Executives and analysts alike, lending at Lebanese
