Bank Audi sees long-term payoff in Syria, Egypt

Bank Audi, the largest Lebanese bank in terms of deposits and assets, is convinced that their expansion into Syria and Egypt will pay off once peace is established and construction starts in earnest, a top executive said.

“We probably put our expectations in these countries too high. I am not too pessimistic about what’s happening in these countries because the situation will eventually settle down and the construction will start,” Freddie Baz, the adviser to the chairman of Bank Audi and chief economist, told The Daily Star in an interview.

Bank Audi was one of the first Lebanese banks to move to the Egyptian and Syrian markets before the Arab revolutions broke out.

Like all foreign banks that made substantial investments in the countries that witnessed popular Arab uprisings, Bank Audi saw their assets and deposits in Syria fall, but not to an extent that would damage the bank’s consolidated balance sheets.