BEIRUT: Financial results issued by five banks listed on the Beirut Stock Exchange show that their total net profits reached $480.2 million in the first half of 2011, constituting an increase of 8.3 percent from $443.3 million in the same period last year, and compared to an increase of 20.4 percent in the first half of 2010.

Byblos Bank posted the highest growth in profits, assets and deposits among the top three banks. The average growth of the net profits of the five banks reached 6.5 percent in the first half of 2011, constituting a deceleration from the average growth in net profits of 23.2 percent posted in the first half of 2010, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group.

The aggregate net interest income of the five banks reached $735.2 million in the first half of 2011, up 13.3 percent from $648.8 million in the same period last year, while their total net fees and commission income increased by 13.3 percent to $226.6 million year-on-year.

Total operating income of the listed banks reached $1.18 billion in the first half of 2011, up 11.2 percent from $1.06 billion in the same period last year.

In parallel, the aggregate assets of the five banks rose by 4.6 percent from end-2010 and by 10.2 percent from end-June 2010 to $79 billion, while their total loans, excluding loans to related parties, increased by 7.2 percent from end-2010 and by 19.4 percent from end-June 2010 to $21.5 billion.

Also, the banks’ customer deposits rose by 4.8 percent from end-2010 and by 11 percent from end-June 2010 to reach $65.8 billion.

BLOM Bank posted the lowest loans-to-deposits ratio at 27.3 percent compared to 25 percent at end-June 2010, followed by Byblos Bank with a ratio of 31.3 percent unchanged from a year earlier, Bank Audi with 33.5 percent relative to 32.1 percent at end-June 2010, Bank of Beirut with 45.5 percent compared to 37.2 percent a year earlier, and Banque BEMO with a 48.8 percent ratio relative to 44.2 percent at end-June 2010.

International rating agency Moody’s last week changed the outlook of BLOM, Audi, Byblos Bank and Bank of Beirut from stable to negative, citing complicated political situation in Lebanon, a drop in the number of tourists and the tense situation in the region among the reasons behind the change of outlook. The agency also downgraded BEMO who has strong presence in Syria.