HSBC: Soaring Oil Prices Stimulate Flow of Liquidity into Lebanese Market

The increase in regional oil prices will stimulate the flow of liquidity in the Lebanese banking sector and thus assign a good sum of money for infrastructure projects, said a chief banker.

“The banking sector is liquid enough to be a strategic partner in Lebanon’s growth,” Simon Cooper, deputy chairman and chief executive officer of HSBC in the MENA region, told The Daily Star in an interview published on Wednesday.

Though Lebanon has long benefited from oil producing countries, “revenues from neighboring countries do not constitute the only source of investment in projects in Lebanon,” Cooper said.

Moreover, the low levels of interest rates in Lebanon will enable the Lebanese banking sector to increase its lending activities.

Cooper praised the resilience of the sector and expressed his admiration for Lebanese banks, saying that they have shown a great professionalism by offering a wide range of services. However, he believes that these banks do not really threaten the presence of HSBC in Lebanon because of the latter’s network of businesses throughout the region and worldwide.

The HSBC chairman believed that the regional political chaos would alter the banking sector where regional banks will hardly meet their target revenues.