BEIRUT: Credit Libanais chief Joseph Torbey was re-elected for a second term as president of Lebanese Association of Banks Monday after a unanimous vote.
Torbey is also the president of the World Union of Arab Bankers, a forum created by the Union of Arab Banks, a gathering of all banks in the region.
According to sources at the association, no other candidate had properly campaigned for the post. High-level bankers decided prior to the election that a change of leadership would not be timely given the delicate political situation of the country, said a source.
Nearly five months of political vacuum after the collapse of the government in January dealt significant blows to the economy, causing gross domestic product growth to tumble down to nearly 0 percent from 7.5 percent in 2010. Regional instability compounded on local insecurity with regional investors pinching pennies after unrest thrust fiscal spending upward and caused consumer spending to plummet.
The local banking sector, once considered the bulwark of the Lebanese economy, also received some direct hits this year, after the U.S. Treasury leveled a money-laundering allegation at the Lebanese Canadian Bank in February, sending strong reverberations through the industry.
The LCB scandal arrived at a quiet close as the bank shut its doors and agreed to an acquisition by the SGBL.
However, bankers have since then been on their guard, speculating that the LCB may be the first of many U.S. targets in the sector, fueling rumors that other banks may be target for money-laundering but none of those rumors have been substantiated.
Sources said that many bankers perceive Torbey to be a moderate choice. His policies have been in agreement with most bankers, said a source.
Torbey is also believed to have strong and wide-ranging contacts in the international banking sector.
“The banking sector has been the most prominent positive force in bringing about real economic growth over the last few years,” said Torbey.
Increasing loan volumes for various sectors of the economy has been a primary tool used by the sector in the past four years, while all other countries resorted to enacting austerity measures in order to recover from the tatters of the financial crisis, he added.
Between 2009 and 2011 nearly $7 billion in loans were supplied to the onshore private sector. Some $1.5 billion were given to offshore private companies, during those years.
According to Torbey, those loans made up 89 percent of total GDP.
Total loans to the public and private sectors amounted to $64 billion in 2010, with 46 percent going to the public sector, 54 percent to the private sector.
Other newly elected members of the Association’s Board of Directors include: Nadim Qassar from Fransabank, Saad Naaman Azhari from Blom Bank, Abdel Razzak Ashour from Bank of Kuwait and the Arab World, Francois Bassil from Byblos Bank, Antoine Sehnawi from SGBL, Mohammad Hariri from Bank Med, George Sfeir from Bank Beirut, Ghassan Assaf from Bank Beirut and the Arab World, Tanal Sabbah from the Lebanese Swiss Bank, Raymond Audi from Bank Audi, and Fred Rophael from Banque Libano Francais.
