The National Bloc: Amending the Banking Secrecy Law to restore confidence in the financial sector

The National Bloc was the first to submit the Bank Secrecy draft law in 1956 in a bid to effectively promote the interests and public image of the Lebanese banking sector and to encourage foreign investment in Lebanon.

Based on the same necessity to restore confidence in the Lebanese financial sector and its compliance with the international financial governance standards with regard to combating corruption, money laundering and terrorist financing, amending the current law, like other countries such as Switzerland, has become an urgent and crucial need.

If the law was approved, it would be an essential step in the battle against corruption, but it will be incomplete as long as the judiciary in Lebanon is under pressure, blackmail, and temptations imposed by sectarian leaders, and is the main obstacle to justice. Yet the banking secrecy law must be complemented by the law on the independence of the judiciary, which has been hidden for years in the drawers of the Administration and Justice Committee.

The exit from the compounding crisis and the protection of the free economy and individual initiative can only be achieved through the establishment of a state of law and justice, through transparent and effective governance and not through the continuation of the logic of impunity and financial law of the jungle that has ruled the country since the civil war.