Sources told MTV website that the Special Investigation Commission at the Central Bank commissioned the Secretary-General of the Commission, Abdel Hafiz Mansour, to prepare a schedule for conducting field visits to banks operating in Lebanon, in order to verify the extent to which they apply the provisions of clauses 1 and 2 of Article 2 of Circular No. 154 issued by the Governor of the Central Bank and based on the provisions of Law No. 44/2015 on combatting money laundering, provided that the Secretary-General of the Commission submits a report on the results of the visits to said Commission headed by the Governor.
The second article of Circular No. 154 issued on August 27, 2020, states the following in its first two articles:
First:
1- While preserving the concept of the essential decision No. 13217 of 4/9/2020, and in order to enhance liquidity, especially with correspondents abroad, banks must search for clients who have transferred abroad more than a total of five hundred thousand US dollars, or a similar amount in other foreign currencies, from 7/1/2017 until the date of issuance of this decision, provided that they deposit in a "special account" that will be frozen for a period of 5 years, an amount equivalent to 15% of the transferred value. The concerned bank is exempt from making compulsory employment with the Central Bank in foreign currencies in exchange for any “special account”.
2- Banks must urge their clients who are importers to transfer from abroad into a "special account," under the same conditions specified in Clause 1 of this section, an amount equivalent to 15% of the value of open letters of credit in any of the following three years: 2017, 2018 or 2019.
3- Interest can be paid through the “private account” without being restricted to the interest limit specified in Basic Decision No. 13100 dated 3/9/2019.
Second:
Clause 1 of this article applies to the chairmen, members, boards of directors, and major shareholders of banks, and “to the higher executive departments” of banks and bank clients who are politically exposed persons (PEPs), directly or indirectly, or through companies owned by any of them. Provided that, in the course of implementing Clause 2, this is 30% instead of 15%.
Financial sources confirmed to MTV Website that the step of the Central Bank Governor confirms that he has fully regained the initiative in his endeavor to revitalize the banking sector and thus the monetary sector in Lebanon, while the government and political authority are completely absent from dealing with any financial or economic file or carrying out any reforms that have become more than necessary, and must be implemented before it's too late. The financial sources did not rule out that Riad Salameh would be exposed to a media campaign driven by some of those affected by his strictness in the banking file in order to push him to be lenient with some banks, which is what Salameh will not do no matter how intense the campaigns are.
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