Pursuant to the provisions of Intermediate Circular No. 718 issued by Banque du Liban on November 26, 2024, amending Basic Decision No. 13611 enclosed to the Basic Circular No. 166 concerning the “Exceptional Measures for the Repayment of Foreign Currency Deposits” constituted before June 30, 2023, Bank of Beirut began implementing these amendments as of November 26, 2024.

Eligibility Criteria

• Banks shall identify all foreign currency deposits constituted before June 30, 2023, excluding cash money accounts, and held by any Natural person whether resident or non-resident, adult or minor in accordance with specific eligibility conditions.
• Eligible amounts are calculated based on the Accounts’ balances as closed on June 30, 2023.

Exclusion Criteria

Identifying non eligible account holders based on the below exclusion criteria:

• Persons listed under Article (2) in BDL Basic Circular No. 154 who have not returned the required proportion.
• Persons whose accounts reflect suspicious check activity indicative of check trading after October 31, 2019.

• Persons who settled loans in LBP equivalent to or exceeding USD300,000 after 31/10/2019.
• Individuals who converted loan balances equivalent to or exceeding USD300,000 from foreign currencies into LBP after 31/10/2019.
• Persons who benefited from purchases equivalent to or exceeding USD75,000 at Sayrafa rate through the Sayrafa electronic platform.

Clients benefiting from BDL Basic Circular No. 158

• The account holder who is benefiting from the Basic Circular No. 158 cannot benefit from the Basic Circular No. 166, on any individual, joint or co-joint account he has at any bank, throughout the entire period during which he benefits from the provisions of the Basic Decision No. 13335 (Basic Circular No. 158) at any bank.
• In case of joint accounts, if one of the co-holder’s benefit from the Circular No. 166, the other co-holder cannot not benefit simultaneously from the Circular No. 158 on that specific joint account; however, he/she may benefit from Circular No. 158 on his/her other accounts if he/she does not benefit simultaneously from the provisions of 166.

Account Holder Obligations

Client should visit the branch to check eligibility and sign on:

• “Bank Secrecy Revelation Proxy Form” waiving the banking secrecy on the “Special Deposit Sub-Account” in favor of Banque du Liban and the Banking Control Commission exclusively.
  • Declaration confirming that he did not execute any transaction listed in the Exclusion criteria.

Withdrawal Procedures from the “Special Sub-Account”

• A monthly withdrawal of USD150, payable in banknotes and / or via outgoing international transfers or deposited into a new Fresh Account.
• The total withdrawals in U.S. dollars from all banks combined must not exceed USD2,400 during the cycle ending June 30, 2025, with a total maximum withdrawal limit of USD4,350.

Terms and conditions apply.
For further information, our Customer Service Team remains available 24/7 to assist you with any inquiries related to this circular via:

• Hotline: 1262 (within Lebanon)
• International Number: +961 1 886656

You may also contact us through our official social media channels.