Five more depositors hold up banks to access their money Depositors redeem $60,000, only some on hold Banks announced a three-day closure due to security concerns Frustration over frozen savings, spiraling crisis
BEIRUT, Sept 16 (Reuters) – Five Lebanese banks were held up by depositors seeking access to their own money frozen in the banking system on Friday, in a spiral of suspensions this week fueled by frustration over an unending economic meltdown. . Seven banks have been seized since Wednesday in Lebanon, where commercial banks have locked most depositors out of their savings since a financial crisis hit three years ago, leaving much of the population unable to pay for the basics. On Friday morning, an armed man identified as Abed Soubra entered BLOM Bank in the capital’s Tariq Jdideh district demanding his deposit, the bank told Reuters. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up He later gave his gun to security forces but remained locked in the bank after sunset, negotiating with bank officials to withdraw his $300,000 cash savings, he told Reuters. Shubra eventually left the bank penniless as part of a deal negotiated by an influential sheikh, local media reported. He was not taken into custody. Throughout the day, he was cheered by a large crowd of people gathered outside, including Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein, who staged a raid in August to get his own deposits from his bank, which rejected the charges against him. “We’re going to keep seeing this happen as long as people have money in it. What do you want them to do? They have no choice,” Hussain said.
BANKS WORTH MY SHOE
The Depositors’ Association, an advocacy group set up to help customers gain access to their funds, described Friday’s withholding spree as a “depositor revolt” and a “natural and justified reaction” to bank restrictions. Lebanon’s banking association announced a three-day shutdown next week over security concerns and urged the government to pass laws to deal with the crisis. A man walks outside a closed Byblos Bank branch, where a man, a security source said, was arrested after holding up the bank to access his savings, in the southern city of Ghazieh, Lebanon September 16, 2022. REUTERS/Aziz Taher read more Authorities have been slow to pass reforms that would have provided access to $3 billion from the International Monetary Fund and on Friday failed to approve the 2022 budget. Without a capital control law, banks have imposed unilateral limits on what most depositors can withdraw each week in US dollars or the Lebanese pound, which has lost more than 95% of its value since 2019. The other four arrests on Friday were completed in partial payments with a total of $60,000 in cash given to the perpetrators, most of whom were arrested while one went into hiding. Jawad Slim walked into a LGB Bank branch in Beirut’s Ramlet al-Bayda district on Friday morning. By evening, he had agreed with the bank to leave with $15,000 in US dollars and a check for $35,000 that he could cash in a haircut, his brother told local media. Security forces took him into custody, but it was not immediately clear what charges would be laid. Separately, Lebanese national Mohammad al-Moussawi took $20,000 in cash from his Banque Libano-Francaise bank account after threatening employees with a fake gun. “This banking system is cheating us and it deserves my shoe,” he said, telling Reuters he would go into hiding. BLF confirmed that the incident occurred. In the fifth incident on Friday afternoon, an ex-military man took $25,000 in cash from his account at a BankMed branch outside Beirut after shooting inside the branch and threatening to kill himself if he didn’t take the full amount, an industry a source told Reuters. The source said the man handed over the money to his mother and was then arrested by security forces. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Timour Azhari, Laila Bassam and Issam Abdallah. Maya Gebeily writes. Editing by Mark Heinrich, William Maclean, Toby Chopra and Richard Chang Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
