Company Insights Bank Audi Banking & Finance Bank Audi Overview Bank Audi is a Lebanon-based bank and financial services company offering financial products and services in personal banking, business banking, private banking and treasury and capital markets. Founded in 1830, Bank Audi was incorporated in 1962. Kuwaiti investors and members of the Audi family were the first shareholders. Shares are listed on the Beirut Stock Exchange and the shareholder base consists of more than 1,500 holders of common shares and global depository receipts. Bank Audi operates principally in Lebanon, Turkey (Odea Bank), Saudi Arabia (Audi Capital), Qatar, Switzerland and France. Alongside corporate and retail banking, Bank Audi Private Bank provides services to high-net-worth individuals through its network in Beirut, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Amman and in countries across Europe. Bank Audi News Economy Saudi Arabia has ‘great confidence’ in Lebanon’s reforms Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud visited Beirut on Thursday, the first trip to Lebanon by a Saudi foreign minister in 15 years. The visit coincided with early signs of recovery in Lebanon’s economy as it improves relations with Gulf states and others following the election of President Joseph Aoun. After his meeting with Aoun, Bin […] January 24, 2025 Markets Turkey targets IPOs for state energy companies Turkey is preparing to launch initial public offerings (IPOs) for its state-run energy companies to enhance their institutional structures, energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar has said. The companies include electricity transmission operator Teias, electricity producer EUAS, gas grid operator Botas, and oil and gas company TPAO, Reuters reported, citing the minister’s briefing to a parliamentary commission. […] November 20, 2024 Finance ADQ buys 96% of Bank Audi’s Turkish unit The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ has signed an agreement to acquire 96 percent of Lebanon-based Bank Audi’s Turkish subsidiary, Odeabank. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, including from Turkey’s banking regulation and supervision authority and the competition authority. As part of the deal, Bank Audi and other investors such as the International Finance […] October 16, 2024 Banking & Finance ADQ in talks to buy Turkish lender Odeabank Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ is in discussions to buy Turkish lender Odeabank as it seeks to expand its international footprint. The fund has been engaged in talks over the past few months to buy the bank owned by Lebanon’s Bank Audi SAL, Bloomberg reported quoting informed sources. However, the report said that no final […] August 14, 2024 Analysis Banking & Finance Reasons to be cheerful for UAE banks with Egyptian subsidiaries Despite the plunge in the value of the Egyptian pound, UAE banks’ subsidiaries in the country remain a strong long-term asset, analysts have told AGBI. Three Emirati banks – Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Dubai’s Emirates NBD – have acquired Egyptian lenders. The pound-to-dollar exchange rate stood at about EGP31 at […] March 28, 2024 Economy Lebanon passes 2024 budget but debate rages on taxes and ‘dollarisation’ Lebanon’s caretaker cabinet passed a draft budget for 2024 on Tuesday with a focus on raising tax revenue and a move towards collecting fees and taxes in dollars. It was the first time since 2002 that a budget was approved within the constitutionally delineated time period of 31 October, which caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati […] September 13, 2023 Banking & Finance Lebanon to ditch Sayrafa currency exchange platform Lebanon’s cabinet has approved the replacement of the controversial Sayrafa currency exchange platform with a new one run through the Bloomberg trading system. Caretaker Information Minister Ziad Makari gave no indication of a time frame for the replacement when he spoke to reporters this week, saying only that the new platform would come into effect […] September 8, 2023 Analysis Economy Dollars make life harder in Lebanon’s cash economy At the checkouts of a busy supermarket on Souraty Street in west Beirut, waiting customers count their dollars. Since the economic crash of 2019, paying by card has fallen out of favour and, increasingly, so has the Lebanese pound. The largest national note, the LBP100,000 bill, is currently worth just $1.07 at market rates. Paying […] June 19, 2023 Banking & Finance UK firm launches fund to invest Lebanon’s ‘trapped dollars’ A British asset management firm has launched a fund that enables Lebanese bank customers to reinvest their trapped savings in local exporters, generating new dollars that will be repaid to investors and help ease the country’s yawning current account deficit. Several Lebanese citizens have taken up arms to withdraw their own savings from local banks […] October 13, 2022 LONG READ Banking & Finance Lebanon’s banking crisis can only be solved with political reforms Lebanon’s banking sector is in ruins, with little progress made in reforming the ailing industry, whose collapse has helped plunge four-fifths of the country’s population into poverty and forced many citizens to take up arms to withdraw their own savings from banks. Having imposed unofficial capital controls following an unravelling of the Lebanese pound’s longstanding […] October 10, 2022 Posts navigation 1 2 Next
Economy Saudi Arabia has ‘great confidence’ in Lebanon’s reforms Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud visited Beirut on Thursday, the first trip to Lebanon by a Saudi foreign minister in 15 years. The visit coincided with early signs of recovery in Lebanon’s economy as it improves relations with Gulf states and others following the election of President Joseph Aoun. After his meeting with Aoun, Bin […] January 24, 2025
Markets Turkey targets IPOs for state energy companies Turkey is preparing to launch initial public offerings (IPOs) for its state-run energy companies to enhance their institutional structures, energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar has said. The companies include electricity transmission operator Teias, electricity producer EUAS, gas grid operator Botas, and oil and gas company TPAO, Reuters reported, citing the minister’s briefing to a parliamentary commission. […] November 20, 2024
Finance ADQ buys 96% of Bank Audi’s Turkish unit The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ has signed an agreement to acquire 96 percent of Lebanon-based Bank Audi’s Turkish subsidiary, Odeabank. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, including from Turkey’s banking regulation and supervision authority and the competition authority. As part of the deal, Bank Audi and other investors such as the International Finance […] October 16, 2024
Banking & Finance ADQ in talks to buy Turkish lender Odeabank Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ is in discussions to buy Turkish lender Odeabank as it seeks to expand its international footprint. The fund has been engaged in talks over the past few months to buy the bank owned by Lebanon’s Bank Audi SAL, Bloomberg reported quoting informed sources. However, the report said that no final […] August 14, 2024
Analysis Banking & Finance Reasons to be cheerful for UAE banks with Egyptian subsidiaries Despite the plunge in the value of the Egyptian pound, UAE banks’ subsidiaries in the country remain a strong long-term asset, analysts have told AGBI. Three Emirati banks – Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Dubai’s Emirates NBD – have acquired Egyptian lenders. The pound-to-dollar exchange rate stood at about EGP31 at […] March 28, 2024
Economy Lebanon passes 2024 budget but debate rages on taxes and ‘dollarisation’ Lebanon’s caretaker cabinet passed a draft budget for 2024 on Tuesday with a focus on raising tax revenue and a move towards collecting fees and taxes in dollars. It was the first time since 2002 that a budget was approved within the constitutionally delineated time period of 31 October, which caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati […] September 13, 2023
Banking & Finance Lebanon to ditch Sayrafa currency exchange platform Lebanon’s cabinet has approved the replacement of the controversial Sayrafa currency exchange platform with a new one run through the Bloomberg trading system. Caretaker Information Minister Ziad Makari gave no indication of a time frame for the replacement when he spoke to reporters this week, saying only that the new platform would come into effect […] September 8, 2023
Analysis Economy Dollars make life harder in Lebanon’s cash economy At the checkouts of a busy supermarket on Souraty Street in west Beirut, waiting customers count their dollars. Since the economic crash of 2019, paying by card has fallen out of favour and, increasingly, so has the Lebanese pound. The largest national note, the LBP100,000 bill, is currently worth just $1.07 at market rates. Paying […] June 19, 2023
Banking & Finance UK firm launches fund to invest Lebanon’s ‘trapped dollars’ A British asset management firm has launched a fund that enables Lebanese bank customers to reinvest their trapped savings in local exporters, generating new dollars that will be repaid to investors and help ease the country’s yawning current account deficit. Several Lebanese citizens have taken up arms to withdraw their own savings from local banks […] October 13, 2022
LONG READ Banking & Finance Lebanon’s banking crisis can only be solved with political reforms Lebanon’s banking sector is in ruins, with little progress made in reforming the ailing industry, whose collapse has helped plunge four-fifths of the country’s population into poverty and forced many citizens to take up arms to withdraw their own savings from banks. Having imposed unofficial capital controls following an unravelling of the Lebanese pound’s longstanding […] October 10, 2022