Blom and Bank Audi.. A Look at the Competition Between Lebanon's Two Largest Banks

Under normal circumstances, banks' leadership positions reflect the breadth of their business base and their ability to achieve sustainable growth in assets, deposits, and financing — reflecting an expansion in their banking activities and an increase in their market share.

In Lebanon, however, the rules of competition have changed radically since the outbreak of the financial crisis in late 2019, as banks now operate within a market whose balance sheets shrink year after year due to the dollar liquidity crisis, the struggling banking sector, and severe economic contraction.

As a result, the criterion for superiority is no longer achieving the highest growth rates, but rather recording the lowest contraction rates and preserving the largest possible amount of assets, deposits, and financing amid an exceptional operating environment.

According to March 2026 data, Blom Bank leads the Lebanese banking sector with total assets of $17.95 billion, compared to $14.77 billion for Bank Audi.

This lead extends to the deposit base as well, with Blom Bank's customer deposits reaching $15.90 billion by the end of March 2026, compared to $12.60 billion for Bank Audi during the same period.

Blom Bank also maintained its lead in financing activity, recording net customer loans worth $1.12 billion, compared to $1.09 billion for Bank Audi by the end of March 2026.

A full picture of the competition between the two banks cannot rely on March 2026 data alone, as tracking their performance over the past three years (from the end of 2022 through March 2026) reveals a clear difference in each bank's ability to cope with the fallout of the crisis, which placed unprecedented pressure on the Lebanese banking sector — directly reflected in the evolution of each bank's assets, deposits, and financing.

Indicators from the past three years confirm that Blom Bank was better able to curb the pace of contraction, with its assets declining by 30.4% over the last 3 years, compared to a decline of 45.1% for Bank Audi during the same period.

This gap enabled Blom Bank to better preserve its asset base, which drove it to the top of the Lebanese banking sector during 2023, with the gap between the two banks widening to $3.18 billion by the end of March 2026.

The same picture repeats at the deposit level, which represents the main source of funding for banking activity, as Blom Bank's deposits fell by 21.9% over the past three years, compared to a larger decline of 34.7% for Bank Audi.

This points to Blom Bank's greater ability to preserve its depositor base and limit the erosion of funding sources, which led to the gap between the two banks widening to $3.30 billion by the end of March 2026, compared to about $1.05 billion at the end of 2022.

The significance of this shift grows even clearer when looking at credit activity, considered one of the most important indicators of banks' ability to continue their financing role, as Bank Audi's loan portfolio contracted by 72.3% over the past three years, compared to a decline of 34.7% for Blom Bank — reflecting the latter's greater ability to maintain its financing activity despite the ongoing pressures facing the sector.

This contributed to Blom Bank retaining the sector's lead in net customer loans during 2024, with the gap between the two banks reaching $26.66 million by the end of March 2026.

Blom Bank's lead wasn't limited to size indicators, but extended to the quality of operational performance and its ability to generate profits, as the bank recorded net profits of $53.87 million during the first quarter of 2026, surpassing Bank Audi's profits of $19.38 million during the same period — reflecting a better ability to achieve profitability despite the ongoing operational pressures facing the Lebanese banking sector.

This was clearly reflected in efficiency indicators, with Blom Bank recording a return on average assets of 1.20% during the first quarter of 2026, compared to 0.52% for Bank Audi, while it also achieved a return on average equity of 14.99%, compared to 6.74% for the latter — reflecting greater efficiency in deploying assets and shareholders' equity and converting them into profits.

These indicators suggest that competition between Blom Bank and Bank Audi still represents a central theme within the Lebanese banking sector, with Blom Bank retaining the advantage across all financial and operational indicators.

This reflects its greater success in limiting the effects of contraction in recent years, while Bank Audi remains a key competitor given the convergence in the size of the two banks' financial portfolios — making the competitive balance heavily dependent on the pace of Lebanon's economic recovery and the banking sector's ability to regain the momentum of its activity in the period ahead.