The Lebanese banking sector has proved itself to be resilient to the wider global malaise in international finance. After the collapse of Lehman Brothers in late 2008 and the subsequent government takeover of major lending institutions in the US and the UK, Lebanese depositors lost confidence in foreign banks. As a result, funds have been pouring into the country's local banks, which are enjoying record levels of profits and liquidity. These inflows allowed Lebanese banks to boost their lending to the domestic economy by $5bn last year, and as this year's Top 1000 rankings show, assets are significantly up.
Total assets in 2009's rankings were up 11% to $80.2bn, compared with $70.9bn in 2008's rankings. Byblos Bank was the strongest performer in terms of asset accumulation. It increased its assets by 18.4%, compared with 2008's rankings, to $11.2bn. Importantly, the average return on those assets, across the sector, grew by an impressive 18% to 1.28% this year, from 1.09% in last year's rankings.
