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I withdrew today 9,000,000 LBP from my Lebanese Account at Blom Bank.rolf wroteHas anyone tried to withdraw significant amounts of Lebanese pounds?
Lebanese lira to USD exchange
There is no limit on LBP withdrawal. Someone at the bank today withdrew 30 millions. Audi are only allowing $300 USD per day or 1000 USD per week.
No more USD in ATMs until further notice ( heard it's gonna be forever ).
No more USD in ATMs until further notice ( heard it's gonna be forever ).
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No technical limit, only a cash one. My friend tried to withdraw 6,000,000LBP today from BOB but they gave him only 3,000,000LBP and told him to come back another day.rolf wroteHas anyone tried to withdraw significant amounts of Lebanese pounds?
Okay thanks :) good to know, need to prepare myself psychologically. Considering de-facto devaluation of LBP the interest rate are not so interesting anymore (no pun intended).
I was on the phone with HSBC Paris, looks like it's very easy to open an account without residence. All you need is a proof of identity and bank statement in Lebanon. You can also link a paypal account to your card etc...
Interesting, my employer offered me to wire my salary to anywhere in the world I want (because our USD account is in the US)Kareem wroteI was on the phone with HSBC Paris, looks like it's very easy to open an account without residence. All you need is a proof of identity and bank statement in Lebanon. You can also link a paypal account to your card etc...
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If you have a foreign account I suggest you have a look at transferwise you can use it to open virtual accounts in various countries and to convert currencies with very good rates (of course not LBP but dollars pounds euros etc)
Keep in mind that if you use any foreign debit card in Lebanon they will charge an additional fee at the ATM of 3%. This of course in addition to scr**** you by forcing you to take LBP at the "official" rate.
Keep in mind that if you use any foreign debit card in Lebanon they will charge an additional fee at the ATM of 3%. This of course in addition to scr**** you by forcing you to take LBP at the "official" rate.
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Guitaret wroteInteresting, my employer offered me to wire my salary to anywhere in the world I want (because our USD account is in the US)Kareem wroteI was on the phone with HSBC Paris, looks like it's very easy to open an account without residence. All you need is a proof of identity and bank statement in Lebanon. You can also link a paypal account to your card etc...
Please be aware that the conversion rate in Europe from USD is "كفر" Sorry couldn't find a better word.
I forgot to ask if they can open an account in USD or it's limited to EUR only. However they told me that the account will be International, and not based in France as far as understood. You can even open the account online.
I prefer to go to Paris and negotiate the terms and conditions anyway. Keep in mind that regulations in Europe and France specifically are much tighter than Lebanon.
And if you want my opinion, the decision taken by the banks lately are against the law. This is something I can't understand and I can't get over it. Theoretically, you can sue them, but with all the corruption around us, I am not sure how far you can go.
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Canada (if you can make it this far) will allow you to open a USD account as a non resident, you could even buy a gic(bel lebneneh tjammed masareh 3andon) for an awesome 0.5% interest a year, they however will not give you a usd debit card, only a Canadian dollar one, so you may have to convert as you go.
You could do better, open an investment account too with a Canadian bank, buy bonds and assets that pay a 5% dividend a year.
You could do better, open an investment account too with a Canadian bank, buy bonds and assets that pay a 5% dividend a year.
Kareem wrote Please be aware that the conversion rate in Europe from USD is "كفر" Sorry couldn't find a better word.
I don't understand, what do you mean?
In any case, Euros are the second most used foreign reserve in the world (30%) after USD (60%). It should be stable enough.
Once you are in the "developed" banking network (Europe, USA, Canada, etc.) you will have access to many online facilities to convert your money or to transfer to other accounts, it is much more advanced than in Lebanon.
Now is the right time to sue them, and we should. Today I saw at my bank a nasty, unprofessional, disrespectful attitude. I do not think they generally deserve any kind of leniency, especially since this situation is their fault. Of course it varies across banks but generally they are the ones who mis-invested our money.Kareem wrote And if you want my opinion, the decision taken by the banks lately are against the law. This is something I can't understand and I can't get over it. Theoretically, you can sue them, but with all the corruption around us, I am not sure how far you can go.
However understandably the priority for everyone is securing their situation first.
Audi at Hazmieh did not allow us to draw saying that we need to draw from the original place, but the Badaro one did let us draw, they were contradicting each othersAly wroteWhere in Badaro ? please share.anayman_k7 wroteI just sold 300 USD in Badaro for 1810, and I heard that BLOM and Audi are only allowing you to draw the pathetic weekly limit amount from the place you opened your account from, more rules to make our life harder
rolf wroteKareem wrote Please be aware that the conversion rate in Europe from USD is "كفر" Sorry couldn't find a better word.
I don't understand, what do you mean?
In any case, Euros are the second most used foreign reserve in the world (30%) after USD (60%). It should be stable enough.
Once you are in the "developed" banking network (Europe, USA, Canada, etc.) you will have access to many online facilities to convert your money or to transfer to other accounts, it is much more advanced than in Lebanon.
Now is the right time to sue them, and we should. Today I saw at my bank a nasty, unprofessional, disrespectful attitude. I do not think they generally deserve any kind of leniency, especially since this situation is their fault. Of course it varies across banks but generally they are the ones who mis-invested our money.Kareem wrote And if you want my opinion, the decision taken by the banks lately are against the law. This is something I can't understand and I can't get over it. Theoretically, you can sue them, but with all the corruption around us, I am not sure how far you can go.
However understandably the priority for everyone is securing their situation first.
I mean if your salary in USD is transferred to an EU account in EUR, you risk losing almost 5% of the amount because of conversion rate.
Same thing in USA. If you receive a Detaxe from an EU country on your Chase or any USA credit card, the conversion rate is almost 6% lower than market ( 1.04 USD/EUR instead of 1.10 )
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You can use Transferwise (which I previously recommended) to create a virtual USD account (in US) for getting paid in USD then from there you can convert to EUR with a fee of 0.5% only and then withdraw Euros from your European account with no additional fees.Kareem wrote I mean if your salary in USD is transferred to an EU account in EUR, you risk losing almost 5% of the amount because of conversion rate.
You will need a bank account in one of the supported countries to register and potentially an ID check (by webcam).
I have been using them for a while and they have a great app on mobile.
What I do not know is how you can withdraw them from Lebanon without paying fees or going through banks, the only idea I have for now is going on a trip every time you want to withdraw your Euros.
Just got an SMS from BLOM bank :
Dear client, visit www.blomretail.com/cards to know more about your card updated limit and info.
Check the new cards limit... Complete joke.
Dear client, visit www.blomretail.com/cards to know more about your card updated limit and info.
Check the new cards limit... Complete joke.
Few Points I like to mention ,after some own research to understand what is happening,as i hear too many conflicting theories., and I am not a Financial/Economics Experts :
Point1:
Here's how much US currency there is in circulation. There is a total of about $1.5 trillion in U.S. physical currency in circulation.
Roughly 80% of this value comes from the 11.5 billion $100 notes. Each year, 70% of new bills are used to replace older notes going out of circulation.
(Ref: https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-much-us-currency-there-is-in-circulation-2018-4)
Dividing this number by the value of M2, we see that actual cash comprises a bit more than 10.2 percent of the total money.
This means that almost 89.8 percent of the money in the United States is not in the form of cash.
Point2:
---------
How does bank create Money in Modern World , Also interesting to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6_SLwReMqo&feature=youtu.be
Point1:
A bank can never be able to pay all the money in cash , even if he want to
Point2:
the Main issue that a Good bank should have not borrowed the Government Money , because they know it cannot Pay it back, so the Money was created and may not exist.
.
Point1:
Here's how much US currency there is in circulation. There is a total of about $1.5 trillion in U.S. physical currency in circulation.
Roughly 80% of this value comes from the 11.5 billion $100 notes. Each year, 70% of new bills are used to replace older notes going out of circulation.
(Ref: https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-much-us-currency-there-is-in-circulation-2018-4)
Dividing this number by the value of M2, we see that actual cash comprises a bit more than 10.2 percent of the total money.
This means that almost 89.8 percent of the money in the United States is not in the form of cash.
Point2:
---------
How does bank create Money in Modern World , Also interesting to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6_SLwReMqo&feature=youtu.be
Point1:
A bank can never be able to pay all the money in cash , even if he want to
Point2:
the Main issue that a Good bank should have not borrowed the Government Money , because they know it cannot Pay it back, so the Money was created and may not exist.
.
1880-1900 today
OK so how can we evade the unofficial illegal capital control imposed by the banks?
In China, cryptocurrency was their way out. In Greece, you were allowed to buy properties outside the country as far as I read.
In Lebanon, the situation is different.... We can't transfer money abroad, we have a very low debit/credit card limit, we can't use cryptocurrency and we're not allowed to invest in anything for the time being except in Lebanon.
Some worrying facts I've been reading :
In October 2019, banks started putting unofficial restrictions on foreign transfers. Earlier in the year, the banks also tried to prevent clients from transferring Lira deposits into US dollars, as since mid-2018 there there had been talk of the Lira being unpegged to the dollar and the debt being unsustainable, with the situation so serious that banks were offering 7.5% to 15% interest on the Lira, depending on how much was deposited. Interest on the dollar was 5% plus. Of course, you don’t get such high interest for nothing, it is due to instability. The problem in Lebanon was, as one ex-minister put it to me, “we keep approaching the edge of the cliff, but the cliff’s edge keeps moving.” Every time there was a scare the situation soon reverted back to seemingly normal. As a result, there was no major outflows of cash or Lebanese stuffing mattresses full of dollars and hoarding gold (although there has always been a fair amount of that; in less stable countries it is always wise to have a sizable stash of physical capital, a lesson I learned in July 2006).
The question now is whether the situation will return to normal, and if the banks will allow transfers and have plenty of dollars again. The banks are certainly doing their best to prevent outflows of cash, as the fundamentals indicate it will not be ‘business as usual’ any time soon. As Capital Economics noted in late October: “In the absence of an IMF deal, the uncertainty over the economic outlook would lead to a bout of capital flight. And the central bank has limited resources with which to mount a defence of the dollar peg. A messy devaluation and default could follow. The IMF estimates that the pound is overvalued by around 50% and that investors in Lebanese bonds could face losses of up to 75%. This would be enough to wipe out banks’ capital and result in severe strains in the financial system. Past experience shows that economies which have suffered debt, currency and banking crises simultaneously have, on average, contracted by 8% from peak to trough.” That is a pretty dire forecast, certainly dire enough to consider getting your cash out of Lebanon ASAP – if you can; Lebanon has also reportedly put restrictions on taking cash and bullion out of the country.
Yet if the situation does stabilize, and clients can actually withdraw funds, where do they transfer their cash? The financial system is very much skewered in favor of the wealthy countries. Digital bank Transferwise for instance, in line with US regulations, only allows dollar transfers from 15 countries into its US account: Europe, Australia and the UAE; Lebanon is not on the list. The same applies to Euros. Lebanese can also not easily open accounts abroad without residency or other legal requirements.
In China, cryptocurrency was their way out. In Greece, you were allowed to buy properties outside the country as far as I read.
In Lebanon, the situation is different.... We can't transfer money abroad, we have a very low debit/credit card limit, we can't use cryptocurrency and we're not allowed to invest in anything for the time being except in Lebanon.
Some worrying facts I've been reading :
In October 2019, banks started putting unofficial restrictions on foreign transfers. Earlier in the year, the banks also tried to prevent clients from transferring Lira deposits into US dollars, as since mid-2018 there there had been talk of the Lira being unpegged to the dollar and the debt being unsustainable, with the situation so serious that banks were offering 7.5% to 15% interest on the Lira, depending on how much was deposited. Interest on the dollar was 5% plus. Of course, you don’t get such high interest for nothing, it is due to instability. The problem in Lebanon was, as one ex-minister put it to me, “we keep approaching the edge of the cliff, but the cliff’s edge keeps moving.” Every time there was a scare the situation soon reverted back to seemingly normal. As a result, there was no major outflows of cash or Lebanese stuffing mattresses full of dollars and hoarding gold (although there has always been a fair amount of that; in less stable countries it is always wise to have a sizable stash of physical capital, a lesson I learned in July 2006).
The question now is whether the situation will return to normal, and if the banks will allow transfers and have plenty of dollars again. The banks are certainly doing their best to prevent outflows of cash, as the fundamentals indicate it will not be ‘business as usual’ any time soon. As Capital Economics noted in late October: “In the absence of an IMF deal, the uncertainty over the economic outlook would lead to a bout of capital flight. And the central bank has limited resources with which to mount a defence of the dollar peg. A messy devaluation and default could follow. The IMF estimates that the pound is overvalued by around 50% and that investors in Lebanese bonds could face losses of up to 75%. This would be enough to wipe out banks’ capital and result in severe strains in the financial system. Past experience shows that economies which have suffered debt, currency and banking crises simultaneously have, on average, contracted by 8% from peak to trough.” That is a pretty dire forecast, certainly dire enough to consider getting your cash out of Lebanon ASAP – if you can; Lebanon has also reportedly put restrictions on taking cash and bullion out of the country.
Yet if the situation does stabilize, and clients can actually withdraw funds, where do they transfer their cash? The financial system is very much skewered in favor of the wealthy countries. Digital bank Transferwise for instance, in line with US regulations, only allows dollar transfers from 15 countries into its US account: Europe, Australia and the UAE; Lebanon is not on the list. The same applies to Euros. Lebanese can also not easily open accounts abroad without residency or other legal requirements.
I'm not a finance type of guy, but wasn't it a privilige to be able to buy usd in a country such as ours?
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No one is expecting them to pay all the deposits in cash, Our banks have 130 billion dollars in total deposits, and they are on the brink of collpase because 3 billion dollars was withdrawn and they stopped allowing the digital transfer of money to other banks. That is a joke...joe2k17 wroteFew Points I like to mention ,after some own research to understand what is happening,as i hear too many conflicting theories., and I am not a Financial/Economics Experts :
Point1:
Here's how much US currency there is in circulation. There is a total of about $1.5 trillion in U.S. physical currency in circulation.
Roughly 80% of this value comes from the 11.5 billion $100 notes. Each year, 70% of new bills are used to replace older notes going out of circulation.
(Ref: https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-much-us-currency-there-is-in-circulation-2018-4)
Dividing this number by the value of M2, we see that actual cash comprises a bit more than 10.2 percent of the total money.
This means that almost 89.8 percent of the money in the United States is not in the form of cash.
Point2:
---------
How does bank create Money in Modern World , Also interesting to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6_SLwReMqo&feature=youtu.be
Point1:
A bank can never be able to pay all the money in cash , even if he want to
Point2:
the Main issue that a Good bank should have not borrowed the Government Money , because they know it cannot Pay it back, so the Money was created and may not exist.
.
The international Basel rules that our banks claim to follow demand that banks own 6% of the money they lend out(that means have them ready for cases like this, anything below 6% reserves and the bank is considered to be in default), and Audi bank claims they have 13% reserve money(in their yearly investor report, which I used to read and get fooled by), and yet when 2% of Audi's money was withdrawn the bank started crying?
Like i said i'm not a finance oriented guy, but let me tell you, the problem is not with amount withdrawn but the rate of withdrawal... I mean if they lost the 2% you're talking about in a year they won't make a fuss out of it but in a month or two, it's a huge red flag...user wroteNo one is expecting them to pay all the deposits in cash, Our banks have 130 billion dollars in total deposits, and they are on the brink of collpase because 3 billion dollars was withdrawn and they stopped allowing the digital transfer of money to other banks. That is a joke...joe2k17 wroteFew Points I like to mention ,after some own research to understand what is happening,as i hear too many conflicting theories., and I am not a Financial/Economics Experts :
Point1:
Here's how much US currency there is in circulation. There is a total of about $1.5 trillion in U.S. physical currency in circulation.
Roughly 80% of this value comes from the 11.5 billion $100 notes. Each year, 70% of new bills are used to replace older notes going out of circulation.
(Ref: https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-much-us-currency-there-is-in-circulation-2018-4)
Dividing this number by the value of M2, we see that actual cash comprises a bit more than 10.2 percent of the total money.
This means that almost 89.8 percent of the money in the United States is not in the form of cash.
Point2:
---------
How does bank create Money in Modern World , Also interesting to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6_SLwReMqo&feature=youtu.be
Point1:
A bank can never be able to pay all the money in cash , even if he want to
Point2:
the Main issue that a Good bank should have not borrowed the Government Money , because they know it cannot Pay it back, so the Money was created and may not exist.
.
The international Basel rules that our banks claim to follow demand that banks own 6% of the money they lend out(that means have them ready for cases like this, anything below 6% reserves and the bank is considered to be in default), and Audi bank claims they have 13% reserve money(in their yearly investor report, which I used to read and get fooled by), and yet when 2% of Audi's money was withdrawn the bank started crying?