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Anyone knows what is the rate Euro to $ in Beirut?
infiniteloop wroteAnyone knows what is the rate Euro to $ in Beirut?

Bought EUR today. 1.1080 in the morning.
Looks like it's regulating back, today the USD was hovering between 1770.
I 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
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
Where in Badaro ? please share.
Has anyone tried to withdraw significant amounts of Lebanese pounds?
rolf wroteHas anyone tried to withdraw significant amounts of Lebanese pounds?
I withdrew today 9,000,000 LBP from my Lebanese Account at Blom Bank.
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 ).
rolf wroteHas anyone tried to withdraw significant amounts of Lebanese pounds?
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.
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...
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...
Interesting, my employer offered me to wire my salary to anywhere in the world I want (because our USD account is in the US)
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.
Guitaret wrote
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...
Interesting, my employer offered me to wire my salary to anywhere in the world I want (because our USD account is in the US)

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

However understandably the priority for everyone is securing their situation first.
Aly wrote
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
Where in Badaro ? please share.
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 others
rolf wrote
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.
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.
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.

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 )
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 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.

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.