Financial sector investments up

Banks and financial institutions hold $6.4 billion

The net investment portfolio of the financial sector, including banks and financial institutions, reached $6.4 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2013, up by 7.7 percent on a quarter-on-quarter basis, according to a report by the Central Bank (BDL). However, the net value decreased on a year-on-year basis by 2.5 percent.

According to the BDL, the value of long-term debt securities represented the biggest portion of investments in the financial sector (62 percent). The report said that commercial banks held the biggest share of long-term debt securities with more than $2 billion, followed by investment banks with $0.81 billion, and brokerage institutions with $0.69 billion.

The value of investment in equities, which reached $2.4 billion, represents more than 37 percent of net investment portfolio. The share of equities pertaining to financial institutions represented 40 percent, followed by investment banks (29.5 percent), and commercial banks (24.4 percent).

The distribution of investments by destination shows that the US was the leading recipient of investments by financial institutions operating in Lebanon in terms of equities (53.7 percent) and long-term debt securities (24.1 percent).