"These companies make our lives easier," Elias Skaff told AFP, outside a branch of the OMT money transfer agency in Beirut.

"If you receive a transfer at the bank, you will die a hundred times before you can cash it," says the 50-year-old man, who says he survives thanks to funds sent by his relatives abroad.

Since 2019, Lebanon has been plunged into a deep economic crisis blamed by a large part of the population on the mismanagement, corruption, negligence and inertia of a ruling class in place for decades.

The crisis was characterized by draconian banking restrictions preventing savers from having free access to their money, while the local currency lost more than 90% of its value against the dollar on the black market.

To cope with the collapse, banks, once considered a beacon of the economy, have cut thousands of jobs, closed hundreds of branches and suspended a slew of services, including lending.

"No additional cost"

For his wedding list, Elie, 36, invited his relatives and friends to go through the money transfer company WHISH Money rather than banks.

“Instead of waiting for hours at the often crowded bank, guests can send money online through an app,” he says.

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To pay the salaries of their employees, some companies also turn to money transfer companies.

“At the start of the crisis, we were forced to pay salaries in cash, which made us waste a lot of time”, explains Rachelle Bou Nader, manager in a company specializing in the sale of sporting goods.

Today, his company does business with WHISH Money.

“Our employees can now withdraw their money easily, at no additional cost,” she says.

As for the banks, the costs have increased considerably on the services still available, in particular transfers in foreign currencies to and from abroad, "their only source of income", according to Sami Nader, director of the Levant Institute for strategic business.

During the first six months of 2022, around 250,000 Lebanese received money in foreign currency from abroad, indicates the OMT agency, which specifies that the number of incoming transfers to the country increased by 8% compared to in the same period of 2021.

This growth has prompted the company, which holds 80% of the non-banking money transfer market, to expand its activities.

"We have more than 1,200 branches across Lebanon," Naji Abou Zeid, executive member of OMT's board of directors, told AFP.

In 2021, the company launched its own Visa payment card.

Its customers can exchange dollars for Lebanese pounds, create a wedding registry, and pay various bills and taxes.

Crisis of confidence

For Sami Nader, money transfer companies are flourishing in Lebanon thanks to remittances from Lebanese in the diaspora to their relatives who have remained in the country, a lucrative market.

"Today, a young Lebanese abroad no longer hesitates to send 100 US dollars (about 100 euros) to his parents, because it can make a difference," said Mr. Nader.

According to the World Bank, Lebanon is among the countries where the volume of migration remittances as a percentage of GDP is very high, reaching 54% in 2021 and amounting to more than 6 billion euros per year.

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And most of these funds were sent outside the banking system, the confidence of the Lebanese towards their banks having been strongly shaken by the crisis.

Disputes are also frequent between angry customers and bank employees applying the instructions.

On August 11, a gunman held bank employees hostage in Beirut, demanding the withdrawal of his frozen savings to pay for his father's hospital bills, earning him a hero's hail. the crowd.

"We can't even withdraw a single pound from the bank," protests Alaa Cheikhani, 45.

“Why should we entrust them with our money then?” he said, waiting to receive a transfer outside an OMT branch in Beirut.

© 2022 AFP