Lebanese Banks Capital Control

Bank name: Bank of beirut

Card type:Debit-Visa Platinum

Local POS limits: 3,500,000LL per day
Local ATM limits:1,500,000 LL per day
Local ATM Deposit : 5,000,000 LL per Day
International POS limits:0-0
International ATM limits:0-0

Card type:Creditt-Visa Platinum

USD withdrawal (month): 2000
Local, Internet and International POS limit : $1000 per day
Local, Internet and International POS limit : $2000 per week
Local, Internet and International POS limit: $10,000 per month
USD withdrawal over the counter(day): 300$
USD withdrawal over the counter(week): 600$

You guys seem to miss mentioning the currency of your current account.
Because that is the part where it makes the biggest difference between the limits.

Bankmed has information well segmented in a pdf file: https://bankmed.com.lb/BOMedia/Upload/20200121140441980.pdf
It's available on their website (hence they update it).

Anyone with a Fransabank usd credit card can use it to withdraw cash from ATM or pay in POS in Canada?

khanem wroteAnyone with a Fransabank usd credit card can use it to withdraw cash from ATM or pay in POS in Canada?

Not sure if this helps, i have a credit card from BLC bank (Part of Fransabank group) with a 3000$ limit, i gave it to my sister last month during her trip to Italy and she consumed all the 3k $ within two days through POS and it worked without any issues, however she did not try to withdraw cash.

When I was in the Netherlands I've received this message:

Dear Cardholder, kindly note that your USD Youth Debit Card international spending limit is set at USD1,000 monthly and your cash withdrawal limit is at USD200 weekly. T&C apply. This is subject to change, for regular updates please visit www.bankmed.com.lb or call 1270

I was able to withdraw more than 200$ as I withdrew them once in EUR from an ATM and the second time in USD from the airport's ATM.
Hope that helps

New official interest rates:

DG wroteNew official interest rates:

https://i.imgur.com/16bvng2.jpg

Not sure why they did this---looks like more to save the banks instead of increase liquidity in the market which is what is really needed.. Another attempt to save a dam by putting band aids on the cracks.

Honestly i just fed up with this random restrictions. Fresh money my ass, daily, weekly limits my ass. If i need to produce batch of PCB and i put money in my account, i dont care what sexual problems does the management of these banks experience today and what they invented new.
Just got russian bank account, card and gazillion associated services, they even gave me SIM card for their virtual operator (yes bank have their own MVNO).
UI/UX of app is really top notch, you see detailed transactions for each move, services you are subscribed now, you have latest possible technologies (NFC, apply pay, google pay, samsung pay, ATM face/voice recognition), they have even custom services for shopping, like aliexpress (special one time code payment), and amount of companies they deal with and have advanced integration is really HUGE. They can assist to open company as well, and do all govt paperwork, you just supply necessary papers ONLINE. Just so you will process payments over them, pay taxes over them and etc and they get their tiny % to live.

After spending several hours trying to explore all features and services they have, i would say, IMO - lebanese banks survival chances are very low.
Lebanese banks just kept only business "we are keeping your money safe", stuck in features in 199x, and miserably failed in single thing they was supposed to do.
If earlier russian banks had terrible service, now they have evolved, opening an account takes 10-20 minutes maximum and it is max pleasant experience. The last time I opened an account with a Lebanese bank, the bureaucracy level reminded me USSR.
Russian banks failing to keep your money in long term (mostly because govt keep devaluing currency and banking system often goes into shock mode due sanctions), but their services level is amazing and that a way they will keep their customers with them.

How the heck Lebanese banks plan to survive with such rudimentary services and excessive bureaucracy?
BUT if they develop same featureset as russian banks, i am quite sure Lebanese banking system can be back on track and become leading again.

There are 2 reasons why lebanese banks were still alive before the 17th October :

1) for us lebanese citizen / resident, it was nearly impossible to bank with a non lebanese bank despite their abysmal level of service. If N26 or any other "online banking app" could have operated in Lebanon, i don't see why any of us who don't have gazillions dollars in the bank would have used a local bank.
IMO the reason online banks are forbidden from operating in leb was so our money could go fund the bankrupt government through local banks, basically it was a mafia : force them to give us their money, and we will lend it back to you (the motto between local banks and the govt)

2) the crazy interest rates, if you had gazillion of dollars, then the rates were practically unparalleled anywhere in the world, hence why most rich Lebanese people invested their money in bonds through the bank.

If you want a really good exemple of the level of expertise of lebanese banks, just ask yourself : "in which country has a Lebanese bank opened and not lost money when in competition against real bankers ?"
Very few, for exemple bank audi lost a lot of money in Turkey and Syria, they only succeed in Egypt
The rest of the banks are mostly corresponding offices (Bank audi France or Bank of Beirut UK).

So yes, in a TL:DR, lebanese bankers are shit, their level of competency is null compared to bankers worldwide, their level of service is non-existent and a monopoly of the lebanese market was installed by the Govt in exchange of which banks would put their money in lebanese bonds.

My 2 cent.

Draguen wroteThere are 2 reasons why lebanese banks were still alive before the 17th October :

1) for us lebanese citizen / resident, it was nearly impossible to bank with a non lebanese bank despite their abysmal level of service. If N26 or any other "online banking app" could have operated in Lebanon, i don't see why any of us who don't have gazillions dollars in the bank would have used a local bank.
IMO the reason online banks are forbidden from operating in leb was so our money could go fund the bankrupt government through local banks, basically it was a mafia : force them to give us their money, and we will lend it back to you (the motto between local banks and the govt)

2) the crazy interest rates, if you had gazillion of dollars, then the rates were practically unparalleled anywhere in the world, hence why most rich Lebanese people invested their money in bonds through the bank.

If you want a really good exemple of the level of expertise of lebanese banks, just ask yourself : "in which country has a Lebanese bank opened and not lost money when in competition against real bankers ?"
Very few, for exemple bank audi lost a lot of money in Turkey and Syria, they only succeed in Egypt
The rest of the banks are mostly corresponding offices (Bank audi France or Bank of Beirut UK).

So yes, in a TL:DR, lebanese bankers are shit, their level of competency is null compared to bankers worldwide, their level of service is non-existent and a monopoly of the lebanese market was installed by the Govt in exchange of which banks would put their money in lebanese bonds.

My 2 cent.

these high fake interest rates are actually the problem .. they are a ponzi scheme
what kind of business can generate 10% return ?! are these banks selling cocaine ?!

Oh I completely agree, only the lebanese didn't see that, many articles mention that 80% of the holders of lebanese bonds are lebanese themselves. It says a lot about how many non lebanese had confidence in our system.

random-username wroteGonna repost this question here since this thread is more relevant than the bitcoin one. Also, this would help anyone else in a similar situation

So i have some money stuck in an account in Lebanon and I want to get as much out as I can, in addition to the bi-weekly cash withdraws that I have entrusted a family member to do.
I have a USD credit card and the limits are as follows: Max 200$ a day and 500$ a month.
I was hoping to buy gold with it, but due to the small limit I'd be taking a major hit on a gram-to-gram basis if I'm only buying 2-3 grams, in comparison to a full ounce.
I need a method to "save" my credit card $ into some sort of account or crypto which I can use later on to buy an ounce of gold.
I'm in Canada, so local dealers are not an option for me, everything has to be done online.
I've tried buying crypto on coinbase with my Lebanese CC, but that didn't work.
Anyone has any suggestions? (I'm also open to paypal or anything else that would help me turn my CC balance to real $ in my canadian bank account)

i don't want to sound pessimistic, but based on what i am noticing, whatever method you find that would work today, it may not work after 2 or 3 days.
banks are doing whatever they can -illegally sometimes, but that's another discussion- to stop you from withdrawing or transferring real USD, you want to invest in crypto and/or gold which is near impossible using CC or checks, maybe your best bet if you can find someone that's willing to sell you anything valuable(real estate, car...) for check bancaire or wire transfer..