Byblos Bank - "We should encourage private-public partnerships in Lebanon"

On the fringes of Ipemed’s political steering committee meeting, a dinner was organized to gather members of the committee, Ipemed founding members and personalities and journalists interested in the future of inter-Mediterranean relations. We met up with Fouad N. Trad, chairman of the board at Byblos Bank Europe since 2009.

Can you tell us a bit about the Byblos group and its international strategy?  
The Byblos group was founded in Lebanon in 1963 and rapidly became one of the top ten Lebanese banks. Byblos is a universal bank that pioneered retail banking in Lebanon, where it now ranks third, with over twenty branches in its homeland and a presence in eleven countries. Its acquisitions and internal growth have seen it expand rapidly, and the bank’s shares are listed on the Beirut and London stock exchanges.
From 1976, Byblos Bank began opening branches in Europe, starting with Brussels, then Paris and London. For the last ten years, it has been opting to open up in certain Arab, African and European countries to support its clientele and diversify its income.

What role do Mediterranean countries play in the bank’s activities and do you have a strategy for Africa?
The bank started up in the (Phoenician) coastal town of Byblos and has always been interested in the countries around the Mare Nostrum. We haven’t had a strategy of setting up around the Mediterranean, but we are active in trade finance with the Maghreb, Libya and Egypt, present in Syria and France, and work closely with our retail customers in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Malta and Greece.
In Africa, we have branches in Sudan and DRC, with a representative agency in Nigeria. We work in trade finance in many other African countries and correspond with some local banks. The active diaspora in several African countries means that we can accompany Lebanese entrepreneurs and importers to the full.

Do the current tensions in southern Mediterranean countries affect your activity?
Following the upset brought about by the Arab Spring, we have had to act cautiously vis-à-vis some countries in the southern Mediterranean, but we have never questioned our commitment to pursuing partnerships with our clients and correspondents. The aftershocks in other countries, like Syria, have obliged us to scale down our local activities and increase vigilance when carrying out operations.

What are the advantages of your membership in Ipemed and what is the nature of your relationship with this think tank?
For us, Ipemed is a forum for meeting and dialogue that also plays a lobbying role. One of the things we appreciate is its driving action in promoting PPP funding (public-private partnerships), for which a law is under preparation in Lebanon. Seminars have taken place in Beirut and Paris on this theme.
They provided an opportunity to share experiences and aspirations on the future of PPPs in Lebanon and crucial encouragement to stimulate PPPs for infrastructure projects.
In the increasingly complicated East, Ipemed sheds light on the political and economic debates running through our region, and especially gives perspective to our common future.

Interview by Agnès Levallois