Lebanese banks offer depositors real estate, bonds, and even bank equity for frozen pre-2019 USD accounts — at a sixth of the market rate

Lebanese banks are running a parallel restructuring track to repay depositors, offering them the chance to swap frozen pre-2019 USD accounts for a range of assets, such as real estate, eurobonds, non-performing loan receivables, equity in the bank itself, or shares in Solidere (the company holding planning and redevelopment rights of Beirut’s downtown).

The banks’ pitch is immediate recovery of some of the funds, but at a steep loss. The swaps are all priced at the 15k LBP-to-USD rate, well below the official exchange market rate of 89.5k. That means that a bank can clear as much as USD 60 mn in liabilities using a building or bonds worth just USD 10 mn, one major depositor tells L’Orient-Le Jour. The same depositor also said he is studying an offer from one of the country’s largest banks to swap frozen funds for ownership of the bank’s headquarters.

The dynamic is showing up on BDL’s balance sheet. Banks’ balances at Banque du Liban have fallen more than USD 5 bn to USD 79.7 bn at end-September, a 6.2% drop since Governor Karim Souhaid took office in late March 2025, L’Orient Le Jour reports. Withdrawals under BDL Circulars 158 and 166 — 2021 and 2024 schemes that let depositors draw small monthly amounts against pre-crisis accounts — explain about USD 3.8 bn of that between April 2025 and September 2026. The rest is deposit-to-asset swaps and loan settlements against collateral.

REMEMBER- Under the cabinet’s December 2025 draft we covered in May, depositors with more than USD 100k would get the first USD 100k in cash, with the balance converted into BDL-backed bonds maturing in 10, 15 or 20 years depending on account size. The Financial Stabilization and Deposit Restitution package carrying that formula has yet to clear parliament, and the question of who covers the gap between what BDL and the banks can finance remains unresolved.

Writing the first checks

Saudi money is about to start flowing into Syria’s rebuild. Riyadh and Damascus will sign a first USD 406 mn financing package “within days,” the opening phase of up to USD 1.5 bn in Saudi-funded projects under discussion for the coming months, Syrian Finance Minister Mohammed Yasser Barnieh told Asharq Business at the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok. The soft loans from the Saudi Fund for Development would go to energy, health, housing, roads and services to help refugees return.

Another GCC-based development fund may be next: The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) is considering a return to government-level financing in Syria, its acting general manager Rashid Ali Al Badr said during Bangkok meetings. A Syria return by KFAED, which limited its financing to internationally-backed humanitarian operations in Syria during the civil war years, would make Kuwait the fourth GCC country to funnel reconstruction capital into Syria, after the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.

Sign of the times

Saudi event cancellations pile up: The EU postponed its summit with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), originally set for 24 October in Saudi Arabia, according to a press release (pdf). The Asian Tour shelved its season-ending PIF Saudi International, due 18-21 November, indefinitely, citing “organisational and logistical challenges,” and the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) said the Urban Cycling World Championships, scheduled for 3-7 November in Riyadh, “will not proceed.”

AND- Two of the Kingdom’s biggest construction-sector trade shows, Saudi Build and Saudi Elenex, have been postponed from their original 2-5 November in Riyadh to 1-4 November 2027, because of ongoing Middle East tensions. Organizer Riyadh Exhibitions Company said the decision puts the “safety and well-being” of stakeholders first and gives more time to facilitate international participation, partnerships and trade transactions.

REMEMBER- The Kingdom is working to keep its business and sports calendar intact. Riyadh is opening the flagship Future Investment Initiative to remote attendance, after the chief executives of ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Shell, and BP skipped last week’s World Petroleum Council Energy Congress.

Data Point

Abu Dhabi and Dubai are among the top 10 cities worldwide for attracting the next generation of wealthy individuals, with the capital ranking eighth and Dubai 10th in Savills’ Next Generation Wealth Hubs Index. The study scored more than 100 destinations on their appeal to wealthy individuals under 40, from heirs to founders. Within the EMEA region, only London beats Abu Dhabi, while Dubai comes fourth. Savills credits Abu Dhabi’s growing financial center and family office presence and Dubai’s international connectivity and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The index measures potential, not inflows. Our UAE desk reported in April that inquiries for UAE residency programs dropped 13% q-o-q in 1Q 2026 amid regional tensions, although experts cautioned against interpreting the shift as a permanent exodus. Mashreq Private Bank head Vipul Kapur previously told EnterpriseAM he expects the next wave of demand to be generational, with USD tns expected to change hands over the next decade and the UAE due its own share of that. Dubai has also been expanding its wealth management infrastructure, with DMCC introducing a new foundations framework to help families manage and pass on assets.