Bank Audi published its annual report this week, reporting a net after tax loss of $602.11 million in 2019, compared to a net profit of $500.56 million in 2018. The bank attributed the losses in 2019 to tax increases and significant provisioning requirements imposed on all banks. In details, net interest income fell by 2.51% y-o-y to $1,130.15 million coupled with some 15.05% contraction in net fee & commission income to $187.27 million, an 85.17% dip in net gains on financial instruments & other operating income to $16.88 million. Concurrently, the bank allocated some $1.2 billion to expected credit loss allowances in 2019 as a result of the harsh economic & financial crisis that shook Lebanon and the decision of the Government to suspend payments on Eurobonds. Consequently, net operating income fell by 92.50% y-o-y to $98.81 million, down from $1.32 billion in 2018. The bank managed to trim its operating expenses by 8.76% y-o-y to $630.84 million. On the balance sheet front, Bank Audi’s consolidated assets decreased by 16.24% in the year 2019 to around $39.54 billion as a result of the 6.55% plunge in cash and balances with central banks to $15.37 billion, coupled with a 21.99% drop in net loans and advances to $10.35 billion. On the funding side of the balance sheet, customer deposits narrowed by 7.39% in 2019 to just above $29.59 billion. Consequently, the bank’s ratio of net loans to customer deposits fell to 34.97% by end of year 2019, with its shareholders’ equity decreasing by 23.59% in the year 2019 to around $2.97 billion. The group’s total capital adequacy ratio calculated according to Basel III standards fell to 11.30% in 2019, with its common equity Tier 1 ratio reaching 6.61%. From another standpoint, the group’s cost to income ratio fell from 46.27% in 2018 to 45.79% in 2019.