In recent years, the retail banking landscape has morphed dramatically with banks turning into one-stop shops. Insurance, car or house loans, and invoice domiciliation have all become staples in the life of the everyday modern bank client. Joumana Bassil Chelala, deputy head of the Byblos Group consumer banking division dates the origins of Lebanese retail banking to the early 1990s. “Byblos Bank first introduced the personal loan concept in 1992, as the country was slowly emerging from war. The population was in need of small loans in order to renovate shops, homes and cars. At the time, banks were still primarily focusing on commercial banking and trade finance activities. After launching the personal loan, we also started offering housing loans,” she said. By the mid-nineties, the retail banking sector was also familiarized with ATMs (Automated Teller Machines), which started mushrooming around Lebanon through LINK, the company responsible for putting in
