Byblos Bank released its unaudited financial statements for the first half of 2022, revealing a net loss of $94.05 million as at end of June, compared to a smaller net loss of $3.05 million in the same period in 2021. In fact, the bank’s net interest income increased by 2.44% y-o-y to $345.33 million, while it registered a net commission & fee loss of $179.71 million compared to a net gain of $35.72 million in the same period in 2021. 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 not to mention the large contraction in customer deposits during the concerned period. In parallel, Byblos Bank registered a net loss of $139.32 million on its financial assets’ portfolio (including trading losses and other operating income) compared to a smaller loss of $3.21 million in H1-2021. The loss on financial instruments mainly owes to some $147.86 million in net loss on financial assets at Fair Value Through Profit or Loss (FVTPL). On the other hand, the bank wrote back some $73.46 million in previously constituted provisions on financial assets in H1-2022 in comparison with some $199.75 million in impairment charges in the same period in 2021. Consequently, net operating income fell by 41.28% y-o-y to $99.76 million. In parallel, the bank’s operating expenses increased by 45.20% y-o-y to $157.15 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 (licenses, software maintenance, etc.). This was accompanied by a 25.93% increase in provisions for risks and charges to $24.66 million. On the balance sheet front, Byblos Bank’s consolidated assets narrowed by 2.72% in H1-2022 to circa $16.74 billion as net loans & advances decreased by 6.43% to $1.75 billion coupled with a 1.16% drop in cash and balances with Central Banks to $10.19 billion. In addition, the bank’s financial assets held at FVTPL contracted by 38.26% in H1-2022 to $99.97 million, with those booked at fair value through other comprehensive income (FVTOCI) rising by 5.80% to $112.50 million while financial assets held at amortized cost decreased by 3.90% to just below $3.05 billion. Customer deposits at Byblos Bank sustained their downturn, dropping by 2.48% in the first six months of 2022 to just above $12.86 billion. In this context, the bank’s ratio of net loans-to-customer deposits settled lower at 13.64% at end of June 2022 compared to 14.21% six months earlier, with shareholder’s equity ending the first half of the year down by 5.07% at $1.68 billion.