The press service of the Association of Banks assured L’Orient-Le Jour that the organization had not imposed on banks to open their branches only three days a week instead of the usual five working days (Monday See you Friday). This assurance was given while echoes announcing a decision in this direction were relayed by certain online media in the context of the crisis which has been going on for almost three years and that at least one large bank, Fransabank, has recently decided to take this step.
“Fransabank has set up a system to reduce the number of opening days of its branches, but taking care not to penalize its customers. Our branches will no longer open only three days out of five per week, but on an alternating basis, so that all our customers can have at least one operational branch in their region each working day of the week, “explained the communication department of the bank. Fransabank added, however, that all its branches will open “normally” over the period from the end of the month to the beginning of the following month to process all operations related to the payment of salaries and other periodic remuneration. BLC Bank, which belongs to the same group as Fransabank, has adopted similar measures for some time.
The ABL’s press service specified that “banks are free to open their branches as many days as they wish” and that “there is no decision at sector level to this subject “. Another source within the association specified that the First National Bank (FNB) had reduced the number of weekly opening days of its branches for several months, a particular case which has not yet gained traction, at least outside the Fransabank group.
When contacted, a bank manager considered it normal for some banks to decide to reduce their costs as much as possible by limiting the number of days their branches are open, given that their role today is limited to executing requests for withdrawals and transfers from their customers. This is the result of a crisis of confidence in the sector after three years of crisis marked by a business climate deteriorated by the depreciation of the pound, illegal banking restrictions, ambient corruption and the absence of concrete reforms carried out. from start to finish on the part of the ruling class.
As a reminder, the banking rate has been halved between 2017 and 2021, according to the World Bank’s latest Global Findex report, while banks have reduced their workforce by nearly 30% since 2018, according to data from the Bank of Lebanon. The restructuring of the banking sector, whose balance sheets have been penalized in particular by its exposure to public debt (on which Lebanon has been in partial default since March 2020), is part of the reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund with which the country has signed a preliminary agreement on April 7, a prelude to a potential release of financial assistance.
The press service of the Association of Banks assured L’Orient-Le Jour that the organization had not imposed on banks to open their branches only three days a week instead of the usual five working days (Monday See you Friday). This assurance was given while echoes announcing a decision in this direction were relayed by certain online media in the…