BEIRUT: Lebanese bankers downplayed Friday the significance of the step taken by the Syrian Central Bank to open an account at the Central Bank of Lebanon.

The bankers were responding to a newspaper story that the Syrians have opened an account at the Lebanese Central Bank at a time when Damascus was coming under increasing pressure from the United States and Europe for its brutal crackdown on oppositions.

The newspaper suggested that the Syrian regime may be trying to evade any possible freezing of Syrian bank accounts in the future by the international community.

“It is a non-event. Why do the press bother to make a big issue of an account opened at the Central Bank. These happen all the time,” a banker told The Daily Star.

He added that the Central Bank received accounts from different countries, including Syria.

“Our relation with the Syrian Central Bank is very old and intimate. We have helped the Syrian Central Bank on many occasions and we also trained their staff to better understand the market,” the banker explained.

He stressed that there are more than six Lebanese banks operating in Syria and it is natural that there are strong banking ties between Lebanon and Syria in this regard.

Syria’s President Bashar Assad opened the market to Lebanese and foreign banks eight years ago as part of efforts to attract investments and achieve higher GDP growth.

But since the violence broke out more than three months ago in Syria, the United States and the European Union have applied a series of sanctions on some top Syrian officials.

But these measures have not yet reached full sanctions on the Syrian economy or the banning of foreign airlines from flying to Damascus.

But the banker said that if the United Nations decided to freeze all Syrian banks accounts throughout the world, Lebanon would not be excluded.

“Until this happens, the Syrian Central Bank can still deal with the Lebanese banks through our [Lebanese] Central Bank,” the lender added.