Lebanese banking staff ‘held captive by fear’ as jobs hang in the balance

Lebanese banking staff ‘held captive by fear’ as jobs hang in the balance

Concerns are rising among banking employees in Lebanon that their jobs may disappear as the country's ongoing economic crisis continues to deepen.

Banking staff and managers have told Arabian Business that they feel they are being "held captive by fear" about their careers for the first time since the end of the civil war in Lebanon in 1990.

Announcement comes a month after Dubai's Emirates NBD said it was carrying out due diligence on a possible acquisition of the Egyptian operations of Blom Bank

"We come to the bank every day and we don't know what awaits us. Every day we hear about layoffs in the banking sector, or unpaid leave offers to colleagues," one bank employee told Arabian Business while a branch manager for one of Lebanon's major banks said the more than 300 banking branches are expected to close by early next year.

The manager, who spoke on to Arabian Business on condition of anonymity, said: "The major lenders, which have the largest number of branches spread over all Lebanese territory, closed about 20 percent of them, especially the branches that they don't own but rather rent them. The total number of bank branches in Lebanon is expected to decrease from 1,100