Riad Salamé

Riad Toufic Salamé (born July 17, 1950) is the Governor of Lebanon's central bank, Banque du Liban since April 1993.

Riad Salameh
رياض سلامة Riad Salamé
Governor of Banque du Liban
Assumed office
April 1, 1993
PresidentMichel Aoun
DeputyRaed H. Charafeddine
DeputySaad Andary
DeputyMuhammad Baasiri
DeputyHaroutioun Samuelian
Personal details
Born
Riad Toufic Salamé

(1950-07-17) July 17, 1950
Antelias, Lebanon
Children4
Alma materCollège Notre Dame de Jamhour
American University of Beirut (BA)

A leading figure in the global banking sector in the 2000s and 2010s, and a key player in the Lebanese economy[1], Salameh is considered a major actor in steering the Lebanese economy clear of financial meltdown during the 2008 financial crisis. He is also credited with maintaining monetary stability during the assassination of Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, the 2006 Lebanon War, the beginning of the Syrian uprising and civil war in 2011 and the 2017 Lebanon–Saudi Arabia dispute.

Salamé was appointed Governor by decree, approved by the Council of Ministers for a renewable term of six years. He was reappointed for four consecutive terms; in 1999, 2005, 2011 and 2017. Salamé chairs the Banque du Liban's Central Council, the Higher Banking Commission,[2] the AML/CFT Special Investigation Commission[3] and the Capital Markets Authority.[4] Salamé is a member of the board of governors at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and at the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF).

Early life

Riad Salamé was born in Antelias in 1950 into a Christian Maronite family of successful businesspeople, long based in Liberia.[5] His father Toufic Salamé owned the Cedars Hotel in Broummana, and his mother Raniah was a "well-known charitable activist" and Lebanese Red Cross member who was murdered in 1982.[5] He has three siblings, Mona, Ramzi, and Raja.[5]

Salamé grew up in his grandfather’s house in Antelias, and attended the Jesuits' Collège Notre Dame de Jamhour, followed by a bachelor's degree in economics from the American University of Beirut.[5]

Career

From 1973 to 1993, Salamé worked at Merrill Lynch in Beirut and Paris,[6] as an executive manager.[7] He then became a vice-president and financial advisor.[8]

Salamé became Governor of Lebanon's central bank, on August 1, 1993. He was subsequently reappointed for four consecutive terms in 1999, 2005, 2011 and 2017. Salamé chairs the BDL Central Council[9], the Higher Banking Commission, the AML/CFT Special Investigation Commission[3] and the Capital Markets Authority.

He is a member of the board of governors at the International Monetary Fund (IMF)[10] and at the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF).

In 2012, Salamé chaired the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group in Tokyo.[11]

On July 1, 2013, Salamé began a two-year term to co-chair the Financial Stability Board (FSB) Regional Advisory Group for the Middle East and North Africa. He was chairman of the board of governors of the AMF in 2013.

Endeavors

Edward Gardner of the International Monetary Fund praised Salameh's policies: "You could have thought they had a crystal ball. It was very wise of the Lebanese regulators not to get involved in all these risky international investments that turned out to be the doom of many banking systems."[12]

In a 2009 interview with Executive magazine, when asked about when will Lebanon feel the impacts of the global financial crisis, Salameh answered:

"Lebanon will not feel the effects of the financial crisis, because we took the necessary measures preemptively. This crisis has turned out to be a confidence crisis. Confidence in the banking sector in Lebanon and in the monetary in general, is very high, as witnessed by the large conversions from dollars to the Lebanese pound. In 2008, de-dollarization was important and the central bank bought more than $8 billion from the markets. Dollarization rates in deposits in the banking sector dropped from 77 percent to around 69 percent during 2008. The measures that we took preemptively were essentially based on preventing the banking sector from leveraging its balance sheets and on the other side, regulating the structured products and forbidding the acquisition of toxic assets — like the sub-prime — by banks. So the banking sector in 2008 recorded profits that were over $1 billion, which was the best year for them. The liquidity that we do have in our system will prevent any crisis in 2009."[13]

In 2016, he launched the so-called “financial engineering” operations with local lenders, combining a series of swaps including government debt, and local currency and dollar deposits, which managed to attract foreign reserves and helped to support the country's dollar-pegged currency.[14]

During the 2019–2020 Lebanese protests, Salamé had a feud with the Prime Minister Hassan Diab, as the government decided to default on its foreign obligations, but Salamé preferred to keep using foreign reserves to pay interest to international creditors.[15]

Corruption allegations

In July 2020, a group of Lebanese lawyers formally accused Salamé of various crimes, including the embezzlement of central bank assets, and the mismanagement of public funds.[16] On 20 July, Lebanese judge Faisal Makki ordered a protective freeze on some of Salamé's assets after ruling in favour of a complaint that he had allegedly undermined the financial standing of the state.[17] An October hearing date has been set.[16]

Overseas investments

In August 2020, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reported that offshore companies owned by Salamé had overseas assets worth nearly US$100 million, primarily real estate, mostly in the United Kingdom, and also in Germany and Belgium.[16]

Personal life

Salamé is married to Nada Karam, a published author, who he met while a student at AUB, and they have four children: Nadi, Nour, Rana, and Reem.[5]

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References
  1. Turak, Natasha (September 10, 2018). "Lebanon's central bank chief calls for political haste as country approaches an economic crisis". CNBC. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  2. "Banque du liban".
  3. "About Us - Organizational Chart". Special Investigation Commission. Retrieved April 2, 2019.
  4. "CMA".
  5. "Everything You Want To Know About Riad Salameh". the961.com. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  6. "About Banque du Liban | Biographies of Banque du Liban Governorate".
  7. "Riad Salamé - MarketsWiki, A Commonwealth of Market Knowledge". www.marketswiki.com. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  8. "riadsalame.net - riadsalame Resources and Information". riadsalame.net.
  9. "Demonstrating Resiliency". The Business Year. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  10. "Press Release: Statement at the Conclusion of the IMF's 2010 Article IV Consultation Mission to Lebanon". IMF. Retrieved June 24, 2020.
  11. "Annual Meetings 2012 of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group, October 12-14, 2012".
  12. "Lebanon 'immune' to financial crisis". December 5, 2008.
  13. "The Central Bank of Lebanon – Riad Salameh (Q&A)". February 3, 2009.
  14. "Forensic auditor to review every transaction at Lebanon's central bank". Financial Times. May 10, 2020.
  15. "Lebanon gripped by prime minister's feud with bank governor". Financial Times. May 3, 2020.
  16. Ameen, Hazem; Ibrahim, Alia (August 11, 2020). "Lebanon's Offshore Governor". OCCRP. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  17. "Lebanese judge orders 'protective freeze' on assets of c.bank governor". July 20, 2020 – via www.reuters.com.
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