Collective Action

Banks are on strike Monday over what the Association of Banks in Lebanon referred to as “populist, harmful stances” taken against the sector, particularly after the arrest of the head of Lebanon’s Creditbank this week, Tarek Khalife. The strike was announced on Friday evening after Khalife’s arrest (and later release) on August 1 at the Beirut International Airport. The ABL had denounced the “arbitrary” and “populist” actions taken by the courts against the banks, judging the current situation as “untenable.”

The Union of Depositors, the Cry of the Depositors and the lawyers' collective “Moutahidoun,” released a joint statement denouncing the “numerous takeovers since 2019 by banks that have failed in their contractual and legal obligations,” and accused ABL of keeping “Lebanon's economy hostage by using the weapon of strikes.” “It is a means of pressure and diversion at a time when the country must adopt several reforms which do not suit either politicians or banks, including adjusting banking secrecy, establishing capital controls or even organizing the restructuring of the banking sector,” the Union of Depositors concluded.