On Tuesday January 27 2015, Minister of Finance Ali Hassan Khalil accepted an invitation by the Association of Banks of Lebanon at the ABL headquarters and both sides discussed the following topics:

1- The conditions of Public Housing Institution, and the importance of preserving the loan services that benefit people with limited income, and also the need of the Finance Ministry to meet its financial obligations towards this institute which owes the commercial banks unsettled interest payments.

2- The issue of double taxation with respect to a proposal to impose an additional tax on investments of banks, and this suggestion discriminates between the Lebanese taxpayers, because this proposal means that a 15 percent tax of on the banks’ profits is imposed as well as five percent on the return on investments of these lenders.

3- The fine imposed by the Ministry of Finance on the so-called non-cooperative institutions, which paves the way for high degree of discretion in the application of Article 115 of the Tax Procedure Code.

4- Tax on brokerage firms operations, money management and dividends.

5- A proposal to form a joint work team between the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Lebanon and the Association of Banks to develop a vision for the next fiscal year (fiscal deficit, put a ceiling on foreign currency lending to the state, and coordinate issuance of Eurobonds, Treasury bills and certificates of deposit ...).

6- The necessity to continuing the work to adopt three drafts sent to the specialized parliamentary committees, namely: the draft law on the exchange of tax information, and the system of authorization for the transfer of funds across borders (was forwarded dated March 14, 2012) and a proposal to amend draft law 318 on combating money laundering by adding ten new financial crimes (referred date 28/07/2014).

After the meeting, Chairman of the Board of Directors Dr. Francois Bassil and members hosted a lunch in honor of the minister and the accompanying delegation.