Semaan Bassil (born 1965) is the Chairman - General Manager of
Byblos Bank
Byblos Bank (abbreviated as BYB) is a Lebanese bank established in 1963 and headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon. It is the country’s third largest bank by assets. It is one of the Alpha banks in Lebanon, along with Banque Libano-Française S.A.L.B ...
S.A.L., Lebanon’s third largest listed bank, and Chairman - General Manager of Byblos Invest Bank S.A.L. He also sits on the boards of several Byblos Bank subsidiaries, and is a member of the Board of the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL).
Early life and education
Bassil was born in Lebanon to
François
François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis.
People with the given name
* Francis I of France, King of France (), known as "the Father and Restorer of Letters"
* Francis II of France, Kin ...
and Raymonde (née Al-Lati) Bassil, one of three children. His paternal grandfather was an entrepreneur who in 1950 founded the Société Commerciale et Agricole Byblos Bassil Frères & Co., a Lebanese company involved in natural silk and leather tanning, and in agricultural and consumer lending activities. The company became Byblos Bank S.A.L. in 1963.
Semaan Bassil’s maternal family also came from a banking background, having been behind the establishment in 1924 of Banque LATI S.A.L., one of Lebanon’s oldest banks.
In 1988, Bassil earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business, with a minor in Finance, from
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
in the United States. He followed this in 1996 with a Masters in Business Administration and Management from the
Cambridge Judge Business School
Cambridge Judge Business School is the business school of the University of Cambridge. The School is a provider of management education. It is named after Sir Paul Judge, a founding benefactor of the school.
The School is considered to be par ...
at
Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
in England.
Career
Bassil started his professional career in 1988, working for Fidelity Bank (later part of First Union Corp., which subsequently merged with Wachovia National Bank to become Wachovia Corporation, now part of Wells Fargo) in the United States. In 1989, he moved to Belgium, where he held the position of Credit and Country Marketing Officer at Byblos Bank Europe.
In 1992, Bassil returned to Lebanon, where he joined Byblos Bank S.A.L. as a Member of the Board of Directors, and was directly exposed to branch operations, retail and commercial lending, and finance activities, and later became member of the Management Credit Committee.
In 2000, he was elected Vice-Chairman of the Board and General Manager of Byblos Bank S.A.L. From 2000 until 2014, he held the following positions: Chairman of the Board of Byblos Bank Syria, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Byblos Bank Africa, and Member of the Board of Byblos Bank Europe.
In 2015, Bassil was elected Chairman - General Manager of Byblos Bank S.A.L.
In 2017, Bassil was decorated as Officer of the
Order of the Crown by H.M.
King Philippe of Belgium
french: Philippe Léopold Louis Mariegerman: Philipp Leopold Ludwig Maria
, house = Belgium
, father = Albert II of Belgium
, mother = Paola Ruffo di Calabria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Belvédère Castle, Laeken, B ...
in recognition of his services.
Bassil is a founding member of the Committee for the Restoration of the Lebanese National Library. He is also a former board member of both the Beirut Stock Exchange and the Beirut Traders Association.
Publications
In addition to being a banker, Bassil is an avid collector of historical postal artifacts with abiding interests in archaeology and history. In 2009, he published a bilingual book titled “Soixante-dix ans d’histoire postale du bureau de poste français à Beyrouth (1845-1914)” (Seventy Years of Postal History at the French Post Office in Beirut
845-1914. In 2011, the book earned him a Gold Medal from the
Chicago Philatelic Society. This was followed by an English-language volume, “French Postal History in Tripoli (1852-1914)”, in 2013. The preface to the latter was written by the president of the French Academy of Philately, renowned French postal historian Robert Abensur.
Personal life
Semaan Bassil is married to Nayla Bitar,
with whom he has four children: François, Rami, Rhéa, and Karl.
See also
*
Byblos Bank
Byblos Bank (abbreviated as BYB) is a Lebanese bank established in 1963 and headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon. It is the country’s third largest bank by assets. It is one of the Alpha banks in Lebanon, along with Banque Libano-Française S.A.L.B ...
*
List of Banks in Lebanon
This is a list of banks in Lebanon.
List of banks
Central bank
* Banque du Liban (BDL)
List of Banks
Lebanese based banks sorted by their significant presence domestically and overseas:
* Bank Audi
* Byblos Bank
* Bank of Beirut
* Bank of B ...
*
Banque du Liban
Banque du Liban (BdL, ar, مصرف لبنان, English: Bank of Lebanon) is the central bank of Lebanon. It was established on August 1, 1963, and became fully operational on April 1, 1964. It is currently headed by Riad Salameh.
One of the ma ...
*
Economy of Lebanon
The economy of Lebanon has been experiencing, as of late 2019, a large-scale, multi-dimensional crisis, including a banking collapse, a liquidity crisis and a sovereign default. It is classified as a developing, lower-middle-income economy. Th ...
*
Joumana Bassil Chelala
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassil, Semaan
Lebanese bankers
Economy of Lebanon
1965 births
Living people