The Ambassador of the European Union to Lebanon, Mrs. Christina Lassen, accepted the invitation of President Dr. Joseph Torbey to a business lunch at the ABL headquarters in the presence of the Board of Directors members and Its Secretary General.

During the meeting, the Board explained to Mrs. Lassen its analysis of the current economic situation in Lebanon, highlighting the role of the banking sector in meeting public and private sector financing needs and the commitment of the Lebanese banks to apply the international standards of the banking profession and local regulatory procedures, in particular in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The discussions also focused on the burdens incurred by Lebanon as a result of the displacement of Syrian refugees and the need to accelerate the process of aid granted by the European Community to Lebanon in terms of the urgent need to improve the country's infrastructure that assumes the pressures resulting from the basic needs of life, education and health for this impressive number of refugees.

On the other hand, the Council stressed on the importance of consolidating relations of correspondence with European banks and suggested that a delegation of Lebanese bankers visits Brussels in order to strengthen these relations, as similar visits organized in capitals and world financial centers (New York, Paris, etc.)

Similarly, the ABL delegation met with Lebanese banking and financial personalities operating in the London financial markets in collaboration with Life association “Lebanese International Financial Executives”. All these meetings took place within the framework of the strengthening of Lebanese banking relations with the British financial markets.