Byblos Bank released its unaudited financial statements for the year 2020, reporting a net loss of $61.47 million, compared to a net loss of $121.51 million in 2019. In fact, the bank’s net interest income more than doubled to $547.05 million, while net commission & fee income dropped by 11.62% to $84.45 million. The increase in net interest income owes to Central Bank directives to lower interest rates paid on customer deposits as per the provisions of intermediate circulars 536 and 544. In parallel, Byblos Bank registered net gains on the financial instruments’ portfolio & other operating income of $205.20 million as the bank booked some $209.02 million in other trading income. It is worth noting that Byblos Bank constituted provisions on expected credit losses of $612.52 million in 2020, compared to $280.52 million in 2019. Consequently, net operating income rose by 73.97% to $224.18 million, while operating expenses fell by 4.02% to $209.37 million. On the balance sheet front, Byblos Bank’s consolidated assets fell by 14.05% during the year 2020 to circa $18.84 billion as net loans & advances plunged by 41.31% to $2.62 billion, outweighing the 3.25% rise in cash and balances with Central Banks to $10.23 billion. In parallel, customer deposits fell by 14.12% in 2020 to around $14.92 billion. In this context, the bank’s ratio of net loans-to-customer deposits settled much lower at 17.58% at end of December 2020 compared to 25.72% at end of 2019, with shareholder’s equity ending the year 6.49% lower at $1.56 billion.