Raoul Nehme named
top gun at Bankmed

Second managerial change this year

Raoul Nehme has been appointed as Executive General Manager of Bank Med. He is replacing Mohamed Ali Beyhum who is leaving the bank. Beyhum has been in the position since 2010.

Nehme, who will take charge of his new job in June, was Chairman of the Executive Committee of ASTROBank in Cyprus. He was previously General Manager of Holding M. Sehnaoui which is one of the major shareholders in ASTROBank. Prior to that, Nehme was General Manager of BLC Bank in which Holding M. Sehnaoui also owns a minority stake.

Earlier this year, Egypt-based Jordanian businessman Alaa Al Khawaja became Chairman of GroupMed Holding which fully owns Bankmed. The appointment came after Khawaja acquired a 42.24 percent stake in GroupMed from Ayman Rafic Hariri for around $535 million, backed by a loan from Bank Audi.

Khawaja said last year that his investment in GroupMed will pave the way for increasing and diversifying the group’s ownership structure which could result in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of its shares. Besides Khawaja, the other shareholders in GroupMed are Prime Minister Saad Hariri who holds a stake of 42.24 percent and Nazek Hariri, the widow of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri who owns the remaining 15.5 percent.

Bankmed's total assets stood at $16.3 billion at the end of June 2017, while its equity totaled $1.54 billion.