Banking

Saad Azhari, Chairman and GM of Blom Bank discusses the strategy and vision for Blom Bank.

83-84% of deposits in Lebanese banks are from the Lebanese residents and 16-17% are from non-residents (a big portion of those numbers are from Lebanese who live abroad).

Saad Azhari, Chairman and GM of Blom Bank says “The highest risk for us is the government itself. Our biggest customer for loans and for the banking sector in Lebanon is the public sector…

The average interest rate paid in Lebanon is 2% higher depending on the bank, with interest rate paid between 2.5 and 2.8% on dollar deposits.

During the last 4-5 years, non-performing loans went down from 8% to about 2.9% and to 3.7% in 2011. Blom Bank’s Chairman and GM sees increase in non-performing loans in 2012 due to events in Syria and Egypt.

Major events shook Lebanon in 2011. The political stalemate, Arab Spring and Syria uprising were all factors that negatively affected the regional perception of stability and economic growth.