Lebanon Profile | Banque Libano-Francaise
The global push towards stricter compliance regulations throughout the banking sector has changed practices in Lebanon. Leading the legal compliance division at Banque Libano-Française, Maya Hardini Abboud explains what these changes have meant for in-house counsel in Lebanon.
I started my career as a lawyer with diversified experience, before moving to Banque Libano-Française (BLF) in 2007 to start my in-house career as a legal consultant. BLF is a top-tier bank that is well reputed for its strict compliance with laws and regulations. It also owns a financial institution, Libano-Française Finance, which operates on the financial markets. In 2013, I was named head of legal compliance division and given a different set of responsibilities and tasks. My role now is to ensure Banque Libano-Française Group’s compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, whether Lebanese, foreign or international. This means, inter alia, making sure all applicable laws and regulations are duly observed, identifying any non-compliance and remediating it, as well as watching out for new laws and regulations, analysing them, interpreting them, disseminating them to all relevant parties and following up on their implementation.
The banking and financial sectors are very heavily regulated. The central bank of Lebanon requires banks and financial institutions to have a compliance department comprising of a legal compliance division – independent from the legal department.
