FFA Private Bank
to be renamed I&C Bank

Hires new Managing Director,

To provide corporate loans in fresh dollars

FFA Private Bank will add corporate lending to its activities and will start providing loans in fresh dollars in early 2023, said Elias Alouf, the newly-appointed Managing Director at the bank. Jean Riachi will remain the bank’s Chairman and General Manager.

“We will also change the bank’s name to become I&C Bank (acronym for Investment and Capital Bank),” Alouf said.

I&C Bank will provide medium to long term loans as authorized by its license. The law forbids that more than 15 percent of the principal of a loan provided by a medium and long term bank is reimbursed in the first two years. “We will mainly focus on medium term lending,” Alouf said. Some of the loans could be financed on a fiduciary basis.

He said that they have some liquidity in fresh dollars that they will use to finance their lending activity. “We could accept long term deposits (minimum term of six months as allowed by existing regulations) in the future if we see that there is a need for this resource to fund our corporate loans,” Alouf said.

The aim from the move is to diversify the bank’s revenues and to tap potential prospects for lending in fresh dollars amid the credit crunch.

The bank is preparing the needed system and procedures and has not yet decided which market segment to target. “Notwithstanding this newly-added credit activity, the bank will continue its operations in private and investment banking and in wealth management” Alouf said.

The bank has hired Alouf who was General Manager of BSL Bank to benefit from his experience in commercial banking. It is also employing a handful of people with the required experience. “We might expand the team in the future depending on the growth of this activity,” Alouf said.

FFA Private Bank has a sister company in the UAE named FFA Private Bank (Dubai) Limited, as well as FFA Real Estate, a local development and investment company.