On April 24th, 2025, the Lebanese parliament approved the bank’s secrecy law proposed by the government and was published in the official gazette on April 25th. This law amended some articles in the previous law that was issued 28/10/2022 as follows:
- The Central Bank (CB), Bank Control Commission of Lebanon (BCCL), and the National Deposit Guarantee Institute also have the right to lift bank secrecy when needed.
- The above mentioned parties can ask to lift bank secrecy through a general request to get informational on all accounts and clients without specifying an account or client in particular. This should be for the purpose of restructuring and auditing the banking sector.
It is to be noted that these requests can be objected in front of the judge specialized in urgent matters.
- Bank secrecy can be raised, in whole without any boundaries, by CB or BCCL for each of CB, BCCL and auditors for auditing purposes, as per CB and BCCL policies. The lifting of banking secrecy includes debtor and creditor accounts, on-balance sheet and off-balance sheet in addition to any information, documents or records related to real or legal person.
When required, this article is implemented through a decree by the government based on recommendation by the Minister of Finance, after taking into account Central Bank’s opinion.
The law allows the specified parties to lift bank secrecy with a retroactive effect of 10 years.
