BLOM Bank published its audited financial statements for the year 2019, revealing a 77.44% annual drop in net after tax profits to $115.41 million as at end of 2019, down from $511.62 million as at end of 2018. In details, the bank issued a clarification notice later throughout the week explaining that the majority of profits came from outside Lebanon, particularly from its Egyptian operations (43% of consolidated profits) and added that local branches did not generate any profits in 2019 on the back of the provisions taken as per BDL circulars so as to cover the credit risks arising from the current conditions in Lebanese financial markets. More particularly, the bank’s net interest income fell by 11.25% y-o-y to around $746 million, coupled with a 2.67% drop in net fee & commission income to $138.72 million and an 86.25% contraction in net gains on financial assets & other operating income to $6.10 million which resulted in a 44.52% drop in net operating income to $563.81 million. Concurrently, the bank’s total operating expenses fell by 10.78% y-o-y in 2019 to $343.50 million. On the balance sheet front, BLOM Bank’s consolidated assets fell by 9.38% during the year 2019 to $33.30 billion owing to an 18.85% contraction in the net loans portfolio to $5.81 billion and a 5.83% drop in cash and balances with Central Banks to $20.70 billion. Customer deposits was no exception, dropping by 2.82% during the year 2019 to around $26.16 billion. In this context, the bank’s ratio of net loans-to-customer deposits fell to 22.23% at end of 2019, with shareholders’ equity ending the year 3.44% lower at $3.16 billion.