BEIRUT: Restructuring consultancy Alvarez & Marsal has yet to receive all the information it has requested to conduct a forensic audit of Lebanon’s central bank, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The Lebanese government hired the turnaround specialist this year to audit the central bank as the country grapples with a financial meltdown on a scale it has never seen before.
Alvarez & Marsal declined to comment.
The central bank said this month that it had provided “all the documents and information which Lebanese laws allow.”
Lebanon’s crisis has hammered the local currency, paralyzed banks and prompted a sovereign default. The audit is a key demand of the International Monetary Fund and of foreign donors, with France at the forefront, which have pressed the indebted state to tackle waste and corruption.
A Lebanese official source and two other sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday that a team from Alvarez & Marsal, which visited Beirut this month, did not receive all the information it requested from the central bank.
The bank had cited legislation and banking secrecy, said the sources, who all declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The sources said Alvarez & Marsal had sent a new set of questions to the central bank. It was not clear if they covered information already requested.
A spokesman for Lebanon’s central bank, in response to a Reuters request for comment, said it had provided all its accounts for the audit, but added it “can not provide the accounts of its clients, by law not by choice.”
He added that the contract signed between the company and the finance ministry was subject to Lebanese law, so it was “no surprise” that some information could not be disclosed.
Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh did not respond to a request for comment.
Local broadcasters cited MP Ibrahim Kanaan, head of parliament’s budget and financial affairs commission, as saying on Wednesday that the contract was subject to Lebanese laws including banking secrecy, and that it should be amended. He did not elaborate on how it should be changed.
Firm hired to audit Lebanon central bank has not received all requested info — sources
https://arab.news/y6frm
Firm hired to audit Lebanon central bank has not received all requested info — sources
Closing Bell: Saudi stocks slip as Tadawul falls 1% amid broad market weakness
RIYADH: Saudi stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, with the Tadawul All Share Index closing down 108.14 points, or 1.03 percent, at 10,381.51.
The broader decline was reflected across major indices. The MSCI Tadawul 30 Index slipped 0.78 percent to 1,378.00, while Nomu, the parallel market index, fell 1 percent to 23,040.79.
Market breadth was strongly negative on the main board, with 237 stocks falling compared to just 24 gainers. Trading activity remained robust, with 164.7 million shares changing hands and a total traded value of SR3.19 billion ($850.6 million).
Among the gainers, SEDCO Capital REIT Fund led, rising 2.73 percent to SR6.77, followed by Chubb Arabia Cooperative Insurance Co., which gained 2.69 percent to SR20.20.
National Medical Care Co. added 1.72 percent to close at SR141.60, while Alyamamah Steel Industries Co. and Thimar Advertising, Public Relations and Marketing Co. advanced 1.57 percent and 1.13 percent, respectively.
Losses were led by Al Masar Al Shamil Education Co., which tumbled 8.36 percent to SR24.65. Raoom Trading Co.fell 6.75 percent to SR64.20, while Alkhaleej Training and Education Co. dropped 6.60 percent to SR18.12 and Naqi Water Co. declined 5.51 percent to SR54.00. Gulf General Cooperative Insurance Co. closed 5.44 percent lower at SR3.65.
On the announcement front, Chubb Arabia Cooperative Insurance Co. signed a multiyear insurance agreement with Saudi Electricity Co. to provide various coverages, expected to positively impact its financial results over the 2025–2026 period. The deal will run for three years and two months and is within the company’s normal course of business.
Meanwhile, Bupa Arabia for Cooperative Insurance Co. announced a one-year health insurance contract with Saudi National Bank, valued at SR330.2 million, covering the bank’s employees and their families from January 2026. Despite the sizable contract, Bupa Arabia shares fell 0.8 percent to close at SR137, weighed down by the broader market weakness.
In contrast, United Cooperative Assurance Co. revealed an extension of its engineering insurance agreement with Saudi Binladin Group for the Grand Mosque expansion in Makkah. The contract value exceeds 20 percent of the company’s gross written premiums based on its latest audited financials and is expected to support results through 2026. However, the stock came under selling pressure, ending the session down 4.51 percent at SR3.39.
