Byblos Bank released its audited financial statements for the year 2019 conveying a loss of $121.51 million compared to a net profit of $164.11 million in 2018. In fact, net interest income fell by 26.93% to $239.82 million coupled with a thin 0.70% drop in net commission & fee income to $95.55 million, while net gains on the financial instruments’ portfolio & other operating income rose by 81.62% to $74.02 million. Concurrently, the bank allocated some $280.52 million in net impairment on financial assets resulting in a 71.73% y-o-y drop in net operating income to $128.86 million. The drop in net operating income was met by some 9.80% contraction in total operating expenses to $227.27 million. On the balance sheet front, Byblos Bank’s consolidated assets fell by 12.35% during the year 2019 to circa $21.92 billion as cash and balances dropped by 8.47% to $9.91 billion accompanied by a 17.86% dip in net loans & advances to $4.47 billion. In parallel, customer deposits fell by 5.91% in 2019 to around $17.38 billion. In this context, the bank’s ratio of net loans-to-customer deposits settled lower at 25.72% at end of 2019 down from 29.47% in 2018. Byblos bank’s equity ended the year 2019 $13.27% lower at $1.67 billion, with the capital adequacy ratio dropping to 9.73% down from 18.19% in 2018.