Bank of Beirut published its unaudited financial statements for the first nine months of the year 2020 conveying a net after tax profit of $12.85 million, compared to a profit of $118.02 million in the same period last year. In details, the bank’s net interest income increased by 38.79% y-o-y to around $282 million on the back of the sizeable drop in the cost of funds as banks lowered interest rates paid on customer deposits. This increase was accompanied by a write-back of provisions for expected credit losses for an amount of $196.96 million, a 67.71% y-o-y drop in net commission & fee income to $25.95 million and a loss of just over $318 million on investment in financial instruments as a result of the government’s decision to default on its Eurobond portfolio. Consequently, net operating income fell by 39.91% annually to $184.53 million. In parallel, the bank’s operating expenses were trimmed down by 5.31% y-o-y over the same period to $155.72 million. On the balance sheet front, Bank of Beirut’s total assets narrowed by 13.38% during the first nine months of 2020 to just below $14.12 billion, mainly owing to some 18.34% drop in net loans & advances to about $4.06 billion coupled with an 8.57% contraction in cash and placements with central banks to $5.61 billion. Customer deposits at Bank of Beirut also fell by 10.93% in the first nine months of 2020 to $10.95 billion, with the ratio of net loans to customer deposits narrowing to 37.08%, from 40.45% at end of 2019. On the capitalization front, the bank’s shareholders’ equity increased by 2.42% in the first nine months of the current year to $1.61 billion.