Banking Control Committee Requests Info on Banks Transfers Abroad

The Banking Control Committee on Tuesday requested that local banks provide them with information on the volume of transfers to “Swiss banks,” amid suspicious large transfers of money abroad.

The Committee said banks should provide them with said information --including the transfers to branches and other units of Lebanese banks in Switzerland-- of customer and partner deposits that originated from credit contracts starting 10/17/2019 until the current date.

In December, the central bank governor Riad Salameh said he would investigate reports of large transfers of money abroad, which if confirmed, would mark a violation of banking restrictions curtailing such transactions.

Salameh said that there has been a lot of talk about "politicians, senior civil servants and bank owners" involved in capital flight, adding however that a probe is necessary to identify those responsible.