Byblos Bank released its unaudited consolidated financial results for end of 2020 this week. Byblos Bank recorded in 2020 a total of $ 61.07 million in net losses, which is mainly attributed to the allocation of “collective provisions’’ for the bank’s expected credit losses on its portfolio of Lebanese Eurobonds, on its foreign-currency placements with the Central Bank of Lebanon; and on its customer loan portfolio,” as previously stated by the bank.
Moreover, on the balance sheet front, Byblos Bank’s consolidated assets fell in 2020 by 14% to $18,838 million, resulting mainly from the decrease in customer deposits by 14.82% to $14,672 million. Furthermore, customer loans dropped by 41.26% to $2,616.1 million due to the deterioration of the economic and financial conditions in the country. In this context, the bank’s ratio of net loans-to-customer deposits settled lower at 17.83% at end 2020 from 25.85% at end of 2019, with shareholder’s equity ending the period 6.49% lower at $1,557.5 million following the losses incurred in that year.
Concurrently, the bank allocated some $612.52 million in net impairment on financial assets in 2020 compared to $280.52 million in the same period in 2019, resulting in a 73.97% y-o-y increase in net operating income to $224.18 million. This rise in net operating income was met by a contraction of 4.02% in total operating expenses to reach $209.4 million for the same period.
Byblos Bank’s Financials
In Millions USD | Dec 31, 2020 Unaudited | Dec 31, 2019 Audited |
Loans | 2,616.1 | 4,453.6 |
Deposits | 14,672.7 | 17,226.2 |
Shareholders’ equity | 1,557.5 | 1,665.5 |
Assets | 18,838.2 | 21,917.6 |
Net Loss | (61.47) | (121.5) |