Byblos Bank released its unaudited financial statements for the first nine months of 2021, revealing a net loss of $3.62 million as at end of September, compared to a net loss of just below $9 million in the same period in 2020. In fact, the bank’s net interest income soared by 44.40% y-o-y to $541.55 million, while net commission & fee income dropped by 47.59% to $33.78 million. The increase in net interest income owes to the sizeable decrease in the cost of funds as banks lowered interest rates paid on customer deposits to near zero levels mainly on foreign currency deposits to cope with the shy revenue streams after the government’s decision to suspend payments on Eurobonds in March 2020 and the hampered confidence in the economy which followed suit, resulting in limited capital flows to the country and particularly its banking sector. In parallel, Byblos Bank registered net losses on its financial assets’ portfolio (including trading losses and other operating income) of $50.41 million compared to net gains of $326.11 million YTD September 2020 of which some $32.59 million represent losses on financial assets at Fair Value Through Profit or Loss and $24.57 million of other trading expenses. It is worth noting that Byblos Bank constituted provisions on expected credit losses of $276.51 million in the first nine months of 2021, compared to $554.81 million in the same period in 2020. Consequently, net operating income increased by 17.85% y-o-y to $248.41 million, while operating expenses dropped by 0.38% to $156.50 million coupled with a four folds rise in provisions for risks and charges to $30.45 million. On the balance sheet front, Byblos Bank’s consolidated assets fell by 7.22% during the first nine months of 2021 to circa $17.40 billion as net loans & advances decreased by 22.08% to $2.04 billion, which outweighed the 1.24% increase in cash and balances with Central Banks to $10.35 billion. In parallel, customer deposits dropped by 9.56% in the first nine months of 2021 to around $13.45 billion. In this context, the bank’s ratio of net loans-to-customer deposits settled lower at 15.13% at end of September 2021 compared to 17.56% at end of 2020, with shareholder’s equity ending the period 17.15% higher at $1.83 billion mainly owing to some $270 million cash contribution to capital.