Al-Iktissad Wal-Aamal magazine's annual survey of top 150 banks in the Arab world included 20 Lebanese banks on the list, none of which ranked among the top 25 Arab banks. The rankings are based on shareholders' equity at year-end 2011. Byblos Bank ranked in 40th place on the list, ahead of Burgan Bank and Gulf Bank in Kuwait and Al Khaliji Commercial Bank in Qatar. Byblos Bank's shareholders equity was $1.65bn at end-2011 and accounted for 13.2% of the aggregate shareholder's equity of the 20 Lebanese banks and for 0.7% of the shareholder's equity of the top 150 Arab banks.
Other Lebanese banks on the list included Bank Audi in 26th place, followed by BLOM Bank in 32nd place, Fransabank in 49th place, Bank of Beirut (60th), BankMed (61st), Banque Libano-Française (67th), Crédit Libanais in (80th), Bank of Beirut and the Arab Countries (100th), and IBL Bank (112th). The total shareholder's equity of the 20 Lebanese banks reached $12.5bn and accounted for 5.4% of the aggregate equity of the largest 150 Arab banks at end-2011.
In parallel, Byblos Bank-Syria ranked in 138th place on the list with shareholders equity of $121.2m at end-2011, up 29.3% from $93.7m at end-2010 and compared to a growth rate of 9.12% of the shareholder's equity of the top 150 banks. Byblos Bank- Syria's shareholder equity accounted for 10.8% of the aggregate shareholder's equity of the 8 Syrian banks included in the list and for 0.05% of the shareholder's equity of the top 150 Arab banks.
Lebanon This Week – Byblos Research
16 October
