Byblos Bank released its unaudited financial results for Q3-2023 revealing a net loss of LBP 89.83 billion up to September 2023, compared to a larger net loss of LBP 231.60 billion in the same period a year before. The sharp increase in all income statement and balance sheet figures when reported in LBP owes to the adoption of the new official exchange rate of LBP 15,000 per USD starting the month of February 2023 instead of LBP 1,507.5 per USD previously. In details, net interest income stood at LBP 2,934.45 billion YTD September 2023 while net commission & fee income reached LBP 599.66 billion. The bank registered also a net gain on financial instruments & other operating income of LBP 3,422.37 billion (of which some LBP 3,240.99 billion stem from the bank’s trading portfolio). On the other hand, the bank booked some LBP 4,405.26 billion in net impairment losses on financial assets compared to some LBP 85.56 billion in provisions write-backs during the first nine months of 2022. Consequently, Bank Byblos registered a net operating income of LBP 2,390.63 billion as at end of September 2023. Concurrently, operating expenses increased by more than three folds annually when comparing figures in LBP-equivalent to LBP 1,678.51 billion, with personnel expenses reaching LBP 731.75 billion and other operating expenses standing at LBP 829.15 billion. The bank also registered some LBP 405.61 billion in provisions for risks and charges. On the balance sheet front, the bank’s consolidated assets ended the first nine months of the year 2023 at LBP 175.44 trillion with net loans & advances rising to LBP 9.25 trillion. Byblos bank’s financial assets held at FVTPL soared by eleven-folds to LBP 1.64 trillion, with those booked at fair value through other comprehensive income rising by more than nine-folds to LBP 1.73 trillion and the value of financial assets booked at amortized cost more than doubling to just below LBP 6.89 trillion. Customer deposits at Byblos bank reached LBP 152.61 trillion at end of September 2023, resulting in a ratio of net loans to customer deposits of 6.06% compared to 11.11% at end of 2022. Byblos Bank’s shareholders’ equity expanded by 90.35% during the first nine months of 2023 to LBP 8.87 trillion amid the adoption of the new official exchange rate of LBP 15,000 per USD starting February which bolstered monetary equity elements that are USD-denominated, not to mention the foreign currency translation reserves of LBP 2.56 trillion emanating from the bank’s foreign affiliates in which the functional currency is other than the Lebanese Pound.