BEIRUT: BLOM, one of the largest banks in Lebanon in terms of assets and deposits, said Monday that its net profits in the third quarter of 2020 declined by 84.45 percent to reach LL86.2 billion ($57.2 million) compared to the same period of 2019.

According to BLOM, most of the profits were made from their operations outside Lebanon, especially Egypt.

It added that 60.7 percent of the consolidated profits came from Egypt.

BLOM, as in the case of all banks operating in Lebanon, was gravely affected by political crisis and economic recession since October 2019 when the mass anti-government protests started.

Total banks assets declined by nearly LL5 trillion in the same reporting period.

As part of efforts to reduce the cost and streamline operations, BLOM announced in October it has applied for the withdrawal of its Global Depositary Shares from trading on the International Order Book of the London Stock Exchange with proposed effect from Nov. 24, 2020.

Lebanon is undergoing severe financial, economic and fiscal crises, which has had a significant adverse effect on Lebanese banks, including [BLOM]. The bank believes the extreme uncertainties for the [lender] and its shareholders resulting from this situation are incompatible with the maintenance of the listing of the issuers GDSs on the International Order Book. In addition, given the low volume of GDSs traded on the International Order Book and the limited liquidity thereof, the costs and administrative burden of maintaining the listing are disproportionate to the benefit thereof, BLOM said.

BLOM also intends to simultaneously remove the GDSs from the Luxembourg Stock Exchanges EuroMTF market. The GDSs and the shares underlying the GDSs will continue to be listed and admitted to trading on the Beirut Stock Exchange.

Last year, BLOM net profits dropped by 77 percent to $115.4 million compared to 2018 due to the country's economic and financial crisis.

The results obtained were largely as expected, and affected by the impact of the financial and economic crisis that has struck Lebanon since October 2019. Net profits came to $115.411 million, lower by 77.44 percent from 2018. In terms of balance sheet items, assets stood at $33.29 billion, lower by 9.38 percent; deposits were $26.46 billion, lower by 2.78 percent; loans decreased to $5.81 billion, less by 18.85 percent; and shareholders equity declined to $3.15 billion, less by 3.44 percent, BLOM said in a statement at that time.

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