Lebanon bans dealings with 4 Hezbollah-linked financial institutions
Lebanon’s Central Bank has banned licensed financial institutions from interacting with unauthorized entities including those linked to Hezbollah.
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Central Bank issued a formal decision Monday banning licensed financial institutions from direct or indirect interactions with unauthorized entities in the latest blow against Hezbollah.
What happened: The Central Bank’s decision prohibited commercial banks, brokerage firms, collective investment funds and other financial institutions licensed by the Central Bank from engaging in any transactions with money-exchange institutions, money-transfer companies and unlicensed entities and bodies and companies listed on international sanctions lists.
The circular listed four specific companies suspected of being linked to Hezbollah and serving as the group’s financial arms, though the list should not be considered exhaustive:
- Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association
- Tashilat SARL
- Yousser Company for Finance and Investment
- Bayt al-Mal Lil Muslimeen
Al-Qard Al-Hassan was founded in 1982 by Hezbollah’s social services arm to provide financial services and interest-free loans to the Shiite community based on Islamic principles.
