Bank incorporation
The Bank was organized as a Lebanese joint stock company (société anonyme libanaise) in 1967. Its head office is located at Beirut Liberty Plaza Building, Roma Street, Hamra District, Beirut, Lebanon.
The origins of the Bank date to 1930, when Compagnie Algérienne de Crédit et de Banque ("CACB"), a French banking institution, launched its banking activities in both Syria and Lebanon. In 1967, at the initiative of H.E. Mr. Farid Raphaël, then Deputy Manager of the Lebanese branch, this branch was converted into a joint stock company (société anonyme libanaise), creating thus Banque Libano-Française SAL which took over the banking operations and activities of CACB. Local shareholders participated to 30% of the bank's capital. Currently, Banque Libano-Française capital is distributed for 9-% upon Lebanese and Arab shareholders while the remaining 10% is owned by Credit Agricole Group.
Currently, Banque Libano-Française SAL is one of the leading banks in Lebanon and an important participant in the Lebanese economy. It currently employes over 800 banking professionals and operates a local network of 39 branches, 89 Automated Teller Machines (ATM) across the Lebanese territory as well as nurtures a client base of more than 130 000 clients.
Bank subsidiaries
BLF acquired in 2006 78.3% of Banque
SBA SA, a French bank (previously known as Société Bancaire Arabe) and which was led for over 30 years by the Syrian banker Mr. Mustapha (Safa) Janoudi. Currently, Mr. Ali Mustapha Janoudi, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and Deputy General Manager, resumes his predecessor's path. SBA specializes in financing Syrian trade activities as well as financing prominent Syrian and Arab businessmen abroad. SBA’s headquarters are located in Paris and it has a branch in Cyprus and a subsidiary, LF Finance (Suisse) SA, which is a financial institution in Switzerland. In 2008, Banque Libano-Française acquired 100% ownership of Banque SBA SA capital.
We believe Banque SBA constitutes a real competitive advantage for Bank Al-Sharq SA in entering the Syrian market based on the following key success factors:
- Over 30 years experience with the Syrian banking and business sectors (financing import and export activities of all economic sectors, providing letters of guarantees and bid bonds for construction and contracting projects and industries, etc…)
- Distinguished relations with the Syrian business community and government bodies alike
- Excellent ties with the Central Bank of Syria and the Commercial Bank of Syria
- Excellent reputation and personal contacts with a wide array of business circles in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries
Among Banque Libano-Française SAL principal subsidiaries is
Libano-Française Finance SAL (LFF), a financial company in Lebanon 100% owned by the Bank. LFF specializes in serving private and institutional clients and offers a wide range of services, including investment advisory, asset allocation, international (including European, American, Asian and Australian markets) and domestic securities brokerage covering equity, fixed-income and derivative securities including futures and options on currencies, indices and commodities, structured products, offshore investment trusts and investments funds of all types.
Banque Libano-Française also owns 31% of
Bancassurance SAL, a life insurance company incorporated in Lebanon in 2000 as a joint venture between the Bank, Crédit Agricole (though its life insurance subsidiary, Predica, a leader in bancassurance activities in France) and Fransabank SAL. During the last couple of years, Bancassurance ranked first in the bancassurance market based on the size of its portfolio and second in the life insurance market, with a 10.4 percent market share, based on the amount of premiums billed.