New banks on the block

ENAR

Political turbulence and economic uncertainty have not stopped new banks from opening their doors in Lebanon. For this month’s special report on the banking sector, Executive spoke to the general managers of four debutante institutions — Cedrus Invest, LiBank, Lucid Investment and Optimum Invest — with an aim to assess their performance, strategies, goals and concerns. The founders of Cedrus and LiBank described Lebanon as the optimal location for their clients and their operations. “We decided [to set up] in Lebanon because of our Lebanese and Arab client base, the banking sector’s good reputation and conservative regulator, the lighter cost structure relative to London and Geneva and because it is convenient to have a base in Lebanon,” says Raed Khoury, co-general manager of Cedrus. Lucid Investment and Optimum Invest are not exactly new — they were established nearly ten years ago — but a management overhaul at each encouraged Banque