Banque du Liban

Banque du Liban is Lebanon's central bank and a statutory supervisor of banks and other covered financial institutions. Its own authorities, government fiscal policy, commercial-bank conduct and the work of the legally distinct Special Investigation Commission must remain separate.

Mandate and crisis

Banque du Liban conducts monetary and balance-sheet operations, licenses and supervises covered institutions, and issues circulars. The World Bank's 2022 assessment attributed Lebanon's collapse to an interacting political economy that included public debt, banking practices and central-bank operations. That analysis does not make the Bank, one office-holder or an external pressure campaign the sole cause of currency loss, depositor harm or economic contraction.

Riad Salameh served as governor until 2023. The United States Treasury designated him in August 2023 and published administrative allegations against him and associates. Those statements remain attributed designation findings, not criminal judgments against Salameh, Banque du Liban or current management.

Current governance and supervision

The Bank's official record identifies Karim Souaid as governor following his appointment on 27 March 2025. This office claim was checked on 29 July 2026 and requires publication-day refresh.

Basic Circular 170, Decision 13735 of 14 July 2025, introduced controls concerning dealings by supervised institutions with unlicensed financial institutions. The legal effect comes from the circular and Lebanese authority, not from an external standard setter. The Financial Action Task Force country record showed Lebanon under increased monitoring at the source lock, with an action plan dating from October 2024. FATF monitoring is not itself a Lebanese sanction or a judgment against every Lebanese bank.

Banque du Liban can transmit external financial pressure where Lebanese law, correspondent access and supervised-bank risk intersect. It can also pursue domestic resilience through monetary, supervisory and integrity measures. Each action must be tied to the Bank, government, Special Investigation Commission or commercial institution that possessed the relevant authority.

See also

Economic statecraft · Lebanon · FATF monitoring of Lebanon and Banque du Liban Basic Circular 170 (2024-present) · Banque du Liban Circular 170 (2025) · Correspondent banking de-risking

Sources

1. Banque du Liban, modernised governorate timeline, checked 29 July 2026.
2. Banque du Liban, basic circulars index, checked 29 July 2026.
3. Banque du Liban, Basic Circular 170, Decision 13735, 14 July 2025.
4. Financial Action Task Force, Lebanon country record, checked 29 July 2026.
5. United States Department of the Treasury, coordinated sanctions concerning former governor Riad Salameh, 10 August 2023.
6. World Bank, "Lebanon's Crisis: Great Denial in the Deliberate Depression", 25 January 2022.