About Us

      I am delighted to announce the successful achievements of the Bank during 2005, which met the objectives set by the Board of Directors in the "5 Year Plan drawn back in 2001. Most of the Goals setting were substantially met, and that despite the Country's economic slowdown and political turbulence, the bank over the past five years continued to show strong performance.

Hard work and dedication coupled with our strategic vision have contributed to financial results that exceeded market benchmark. Over the past five years, our total assets, customers' deposits, loans and advances, shareholders' equity and net profits grew faster than our peers. Our market share has been improving year after year, as substantiated in the bank's balance sheet growth and increased profitability.

Since 2001, total assets increased from US$752 million to US$2,837 million (US$2,341 million in 2004), customers' deposits increased from US$626 million to US$2,295 million (US$1,944 million in 2004), Loans & Advances increased from US$154 million to US$308 million (US$276 million in 2004), Shareholders' Equity improved from US$26 million to US$139 million (US$95 million in 2004), and net income grew from US$5 million to US$26 million (US$22 million in 2004).

Performance record has consistently exceeded those of the sector's growth indicators, on the other hand, the Bank reported a consistent Return on Average Equity (ROAE) in excess of 20% over the past 5 years, and a Return on Average Assets (ROAA) of 1%, The Bank is maintaining its growth strategy with the objective to position the bank among the leading financial institutions. This will be achieved through enhancing equity funding and the implementation of risk management policies, embracing a corporate governance culture that entails more discipline and transparency, diversification of service lines and business activities, and most importantly, the constant build up of customer loyalty.

In terms of capitalization, we remain committed to continuously strengthening capital base, internally through the capitalization of a large portion of reported profits, and externally by attracting new investors to subscribe to news series of ordinary and preferred shares.

Image building remains a key factor to our success and will continue to be enhanced. The Bank will strengthen its focus on customer satisfaction through the improvement and diversification of its products and services. As for our domestic branch network, we continue our strategy of expansion to further increase the network by 4 or 5 branches during 2006.

Moreover, we started expanding through strategic investments in equity participation, and to further provide a wide range of services, we have established an insurance brokerage firm, on the way to develop a private banking unit and we are currently studying the feasibility of setting up a financial institution and/or an investment bank in Lebanon.

Regionally, we started focusing on expanding our activities in the Middle East and North Africa. This strategy will serve the Lebanese Diaspora and will open the door to larger markets with greater placement opportunities and diversified funding sources.

To support our rapid growth, we regularly revisit our organization and managerial structures, our technological platform, and our operational procedures, in an attempt to improve in efficiency and effectiveness.

Our aim is to enhance our ability to deliver superior performance in order to exceed our customers' expectations, to optimize shareholders' value and to be recognized by our clients in particular, and the community in general, to be among the best service provider in our industry. The Board of Directors and Senior management continue to be fully dedicated towards achieving these objectives.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to our shareholders for their continuous support, to our customers for their trust and loyalty, and last but not least, to our senior management and staff for their dedication and team work spirit, which are the key success factors contributing to the excellent results in 2005.