MEAB is here to stay, bank’s new chairman insists
Osama Habib/The Daily Star/June 25, 2015
BEIRUT: The newly appointed Chairman of Middle East Africa Bank Ali Hejeij said the change in the bank’s administration was merely sped up in light of a U.S. Treasury accusation that his father has links with Hezbollah, and refuted claims that MEAB intends to sell its assets to exit the market. “The change in the administration was supposed to take place eight months ago. We had 10 branches only when my father Kassem Hejeij became the chairman of the bank, and now we are planning to open the 21st branch in Lebanon Thursday. We [the board of directors] decided to speed up the change following the U.S. Treasury report.” Ali told The Daily Star in an exclusive interview.
On June 10, the U.S. Treasury charged Kassem Hejeij and two other businessmen with links to Hezbollah, labeled by Washington as a terrorist group. “[Kassem] Hejeij is a Lebanese businessman that maintains direct ties to Hezbollah organizational elements. In addition to his support to Adham Tabaja and his affiliated companies in Iraq, Hejeij has helped open bank accounts for Hezbollah in Lebanon and provided credit to Hezbollah procurement companies. Hejeij has also invested in infrastructure that Hezbollah uses in both Lebanon and Iraq,” the U.S. Treasury said.
Kassem Hejeij’s attorney strongly denied these allegations. But the report did not name MEAB in the report nor did it suggest that the Lebanese monetary authorities take any sort of action against the bank. Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh repeatedly said that MEAB is fully complying with all anti money-laundering and terrorist-funding measures, adding that the bank is functioning normally in Lebanon. Ali Hejeij explained that he bought all the shares of his father in the bank.
“Mr. [Kassem] Hejeij has no relations with the bank whether directly or indirectly. I have been focusing all my attention and energy on the bank since I assumed the new post,” he added. Despite the short experience in the banking field, the young Ali Hejeij seemed determined to expand the presence of the bank in Lebanon with special emphasis on strengthening retail and corporate banking. “We intend to stay here and the best proof is that we are opening a new branch tomorrow [Thursday] and another one in few months,” he added.
Hejeij vehemently denied rumors that MEAB plans to sell all its assets to exit the Lebanese market. “We are not going to sell. If you know any bank is interested in selling please tell us,” Hejeij said jokingly. He stressed that less than 1 percent of the bank deposits were withdrawn following the U.S. Treasury report. “Our operations continued smoothly and even our correspondent banks abroad continued to deal with us. It was business as usual,” Hejeij said.
He added that MEAB is fully complying with every circular and decision issued by the Central Bank and specially those concerned with money laundering and terrorism financing. Hejeij also assured that the bank would not deal with any group labeled as a terrorist organization by the international community. “If any name is mentioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control the compliance department will refuse to deal with him. This also applies to groups and parties,” he added.
Hejeij also denied claims that MEAB plans to close its two branches in Iraq. “We arrived in the Iraqi market a bit late. The branches in Iraq are also fully complying with all the circulars issued by the Iraqi Central Bank,” he said. According to Hejeij, MEAB has a consolidated balance sheet of $1.7 billion and the profits earned in 2014 ranged between $18 million to $19 million. As for the structure of the deposits, he emphasized that the share of Hejeij’s family in these deposits do not exceed 20 percent and the rest are owned by regular depositors.
