(contribution)
Ever since all productive sectors in Lebanon (except for the Banking sector) became, … unproductive, it is a Taboo to discuss any negative point related to Banks. But let’s see about that.
Banks are running the show in Lebanon, they are financing the state, financing the real estate market, and employing thousands of families in Lebanon. That is of course: the bright side.
Now back to the reality side. Banks have 3 times more money than the government has, they can cover our National Debt, twice. They might be the only banks in the world that actually made a profit during 4 years of recession, and still, they charge you 1 Dollar for each 1000 USD you deposit in YOUR account. (Total Deposits in Lebanese banks by the end of February 2012 reached 120 Billion USD…so that is 120 Million USD that Banks made from stealing 1 USD for each 1000 deposited!)
I am a 27 year old man, with zero inheritance and no political power; I dealt with two leading banks in Lebanon, to open 2 bank accounts for my startup company.
And a year later, we worked on our “financials”:
The first bank ‘stole’ 500 USD, by taking 1USD for each 1000 deposited, “Fees and Charges” (literally, as on bank statement), Card Monthly fees, (not interest, just fees), and the ridiculous fee they charge for every ATM transaction you make after they grant you, generously, 3 free transactions per month. The bank asked us to block some money for them to issue us a Credit Card.
This blocked account, obviously does not entitle us for any interest, but what’s event worse, is that they charge you 12 USD per year for blocking it. Go ask them why!
Then again, you see the guys who just sold Instagram to Facebook for 1 Billion USD, and some apple applications developers making a tiny percentage on their application sold, so you go to your bank, in an attempt to cope with the world online/e-commerce trend, and we told them we make 5 to 10% profit margin and we are looking for an online payment solution, they ask you for 35 USD per month plus 3.5% per every payment transaction made on our website, so if you sell something for 100 USD online with a profit margin of 5% in Lebanon, you end up gaining 1.5 USD and the bank gets 3.5 USD. Great!
The second bank we dealt with also robbed 500 USD, for the same charges, in addition to the famous SMS fees and a funny charge called A/C charges (4 USD per month).
We asked the banker what is this charge for, he responded: “I don’t know, I even pay this charge”. A story to remember with this second bank is when we asked them to issue us a Credit Card, as many of our payments are made online, they responded that they don’t advise us to pay online because you cannot trust the Internet! Now, try to open a company account in this bank, and then try to withdraw money from it. Well, you can’t!
We went to the teller, asking to withdraw some money from our account, he asked us for a cheque! …Wait a second, do you want us to write a cheque to ourselves now so we can withdraw money? Yes! And how much does a cheque book cost? It costs 25 USD for 10 cheques.
But to give this second bank a break, they have a good online banking portal, unlike the first one where you can absolutely do nothing there, not even transfer between 2 different accounts that are yours.
The bank I am dealing with in Dubai after I moved here, takes no charges for handling your account, we pay nothing.
They have a great online banking portal, where you can transfer online in between accounts, locally and overseas, you can pay your utilities and phone bills, you can make Western Union Transfers, pay your traffic fines and tickets, for free! And this bank didn’t do as well as Lebanese banks did in the recession.
Banks bargaining power in Lebanon is huge and we can’t do nothing about it for now, except pointing at them, breaking the stupid taboos about them, and dream that one day, they will start earning their profit, and not stealing it from young men and women trying to make a living in this country.
Rayan