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MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL Mutual funds on the market in Lebanon are on the rise in both number and value according the latest data from Banque du Liban, Lebanon’s central bank. Over the course of 2009 the number of marketed funds increased by a whopping 42 percent from 387 to 551. The total amount of licensed funds, on and off the market, hit 1,418 at the end of last year. In turn, the amount of mutual fund subscriptions also increased during 2009 with $837 million present in funds on the market at the end of the year, a 14.5 percent increase on the figure at the end of 2008. The distribution in investment was mostly allocated to securities funds that constituted 65.4 percent of the total, followed by fixed income funds (26.4 percent) and money market funds (8.1 percent). Banks took the lion’s share of subscriptions with 93 percent of the total,