Bank of Beirut published its audited financial statements for the year 2021 conveying a net after tax profit of $3.29 million, compared to a loss of just below $250 million in 2020. In details, the bank’s net interest income fell by 19.53% y-o-y to $471.50 million, while net commission & fee income increased by 26.58% to $65.54 million. Net loss on financial instruments & other operating income fell by 30.31% in 2021 to $237.83 million. More specifically, the bank booked losses on financial assets at Fair Value Through Profit or Loss (FVTPL) of $1.15 million, losses on derecognition of financial assets at amortized cost of $254.84 million and other operating income of $18.16 million. It is worth noting that Bank of Beirut constituted some $51.44 million in allowance for expected credit losses in 2021, in comparison with a much higher figure of $322.96 million in 2020. Consequently, the bank registered a net operating income of $240.51 million in 2021 compared to a loss of $27.37 million a year earlier. Total operating expenses rose by 15.39% in 2021 to $217.19 million as most banks had to accommodate for the frantic depreciation of the Pound to meet fresh dollar fixed & running costs namely owed to foreign operators in the form of licenses and software maintenance, only to name a few. On the balance sheet front, Bank of Beirut’s total assets narrowed by 10.06% during the year 2021 to around $12.09 billion, mainly owing to some 21.23% drop in net loans & advances to about $3.08 billion while cash and placements while central banks remained almost flat at $5.65 billion. The bank’s financial assets held at FVTPL decreased by 5.92% in 2021 to $48.35 million, with investment securities booked at fair value through other comprehensive income dropping by 10.22% to $9.93 million and investment securities held at amortized cost decreasing by 18.32% to $2.24 billion. Customer deposits at Bank of Beirut dropped by 10.40% in 2021 to $9.62 billion, with the ratio of net loans to customer deposits narrowing to 32.04%, from 36.44% at end of 2020. On the capitalization front, the bank’s shareholders’ equity ended the year 2021 down by 2.79% at $1.34 billion.