Parliamentary Committee Approves 11 Additional Articles in Banking Reform with International Standards Consideration

The Finance and Budget Committee convened under the leadership of MP Ibrahim Kanaan, with the attendance of Finance Minister Yassin Jaber and MPs Ali Fayyad, George Adwan, Farid Al-Bustani, Simon Abi Ramia, Alain Aoun, Jihad Al-Samad, Fouad Makhzoumi, Ali Hassan Khalil, Ghada Ayoub, Hassan Fadlallah, Michel Mouawad, Raji Al-Saad, Salim Aoun, Qabalan Qabalan, Ghazi Zaiter, Qassem Hashem, Ibrahim Mneimneh, Jimmy Jabbour, Paula Yacoubian, Jamil Al-Sayyed, Ayoub Hamid, Melhem Khalaf, Halima Qaqour, Marwan Hamadeh, Marc Doueihy, Razi Al-Hajj, Waddah Al-Sadiq, Cesar Abi Khalil, Adnan Traboulsi, Amin Sherri, and Firas Hamdan. Also present were the Governor of the Central Bank, Karim Said; the Central Bank's Legal Affairs Director, Samer Lishaa; the Finance Minister’s advisor, Samir Hammoud; and the Beirut Bar Association President, Imad Murtinos.

Following the session, Ibrahim Kanaan stated, "Today, we resumed discussions on the banking restructuring law after resolving the previous points of disagreement between the Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the government. We proceeded to review the remaining articles, achieving significant progress by approving 11 additional articles. Some articles remain for which we will hold a session next week due to the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Thursday."

Kanaan added, "There was full consensus on the amendments and approvals made, aligning with international standards and the agreement among MPs, the government, and the Central Bank."

He further explained, "The implementation of this law is linked to the deposit recovery law, known as the 'gap law.' The fundamental and central aspect of all financial and monetary reform is deposit recovery, which includes depositors' rights and the mechanism for recovering these rights, which must be clear. Therefore, I send a message to the government that the amendments currently being worked on, from which some unofficial details have reached us without formal documentation, must include clear recovery mechanisms and secured funding. The last thing we want is to return to delays and passing responsibility among the authorities while our people and economy bear the cost. This issue cannot be resolved by the Parliament alone; the solution lies between the government, Parliament, and the IMF. From this perspective, we hope the discussions serve the project's interest, clarify it, and secure depositors' rights regardless of their affiliation."