Lebanese Banks Control Syrian Banking System
15-July-2009
Lebanese Banks Control Syrian Banking System
15-July-2009
Syrian authorities should act to stop Lebanese banks from controlling the banking system in Syria, the pro-government website Syria Tomorrow said in a July 13 article.
The website said the difference between Lebanon’s liberal economic outlook and Syria’s state-controlled one has generated an “unhealthy” interaction between the two countries recent decades.
In the past, many Syrian businessmen had made use of Lebanon’s liberal financial and banking system, putting their money in Lebanese banks, the article said. Many Syrian merchants smuggled into the Lebanese markets the goods they could not introduce into Syria and have subsequently become very wealthy, it added.
But with the turn of the new century, Syria started turning towards more liberal economic policies allowing the establishment of private banks, the article said.
Lebanese banks did not want to lose their Syrian clients and had begun to offer more services at lower costs, it said. Some Lebanese banks decided to invest directly in Syria by opening branches in the country, it added.
The article said that today many Syrian businessmen continue to deal exclusively with Lebanese banks instead of Syrian ones.
It added that the US sanctions against the Commercial Bank of Syria have negatively affected the banking system in Syria.
As a result, many transactions are carried out through the Beirut-based Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank, which increases the control of Lebanese banks over the Syrian banking system, the website said.
Most of the executives at the head of Lebanese banks are politically anti-Syrian, the website said, urging authorities to take steps to stop the influence of Lebanese banks.
The website said the difference between Lebanon’s liberal economic outlook and Syria’s state-controlled one has generated an “unhealthy” interaction between the two countries recent decades.
In the past, many Syrian businessmen had made use of Lebanon’s liberal financial and banking system, putting their money in Lebanese banks, the article said. Many Syrian merchants smuggled into the Lebanese markets the goods they could not introduce into Syria and have subsequently become very wealthy, it added.
But with the turn of the new century, Syria started turning towards more liberal economic policies allowing the establishment of private banks, the article said.
Lebanese banks did not want to lose their Syrian clients and had begun to offer more services at lower costs, it said. Some Lebanese banks decided to invest directly in Syria by opening branches in the country, it added.
The article said that today many Syrian businessmen continue to deal exclusively with Lebanese banks instead of Syrian ones.
It added that the US sanctions against the Commercial Bank of Syria have negatively affected the banking system in Syria.
As a result, many transactions are carried out through the Beirut-based Syrian Lebanese Commercial Bank, which increases the control of Lebanese banks over the Syrian banking system, the website said.
Most of the executives at the head of Lebanese banks are politically anti-Syrian, the website said, urging authorities to take steps to stop the influence of Lebanese banks.
