People queuing in front of a Bank Audi branch on March 29, 2020 in Lebanon. (Illustrative photo/AFP)
In a statement published on Jan. 14, Bank Audi announced that Samir Hanna had resigned from his position as group CEO and replaced by Sherine Audi following the bank’s board of directors meeting on Jan. 13.
In the same statement, Bank Audi’s board "expressed its deep gratitude to Hanna for his more than six decades of dedicated service, which shaped the bank’s direction at pivotal moments."
The daughter of the institution’s co-founder Raymond Audi, Sherine Audi began her banking career in 1980 at Bank Audi France, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank Audi, where she held several positions, notably in credit, business development, operations and administration, according to information available on the bank’s website.
In 1995, she was named deputy managing director of Bank Audi France, then executive director in 2000, and managing director from 2010 to 2022. In September 2022, three years after the onset of Lebanon's economic and financial crisis, she decided to step down from her executive functions and was elected non-executive chairperson of the board of Bank Audi France, effective Jan. 1, 2023. She has also been a non-executive member of Bank Audi’s board since April 2017.
While Bank Audi's statement does not mention it, it comes six days after the Banque du Liban (BDL, central bank) announced on Jan. 8 it would join legal proceedings in several cases involving allegedly embezzled funds in recent years.
At a press conference, central bank governor Karim Souhaid stated that the BDL has filed a criminal complaint in Lebanon "against a former official of Banque du Liban" — referring to Riad Salameh — as well as a "former banker" whose identity he did not disclose. While the governor did not provide more details on this matter, according to our information, this move is part of a preliminary investigation opened last September by the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) in Paris against former Prime Minister Nagib Mikati and his associates, based on a complaint from anti-corruption groups.
"Given the facts, these individuals had a thorough understanding of the mechanisms adopted, the objectives sought, and the results obtained," the governor stated, adding that the BDL would broaden its complaint to anyone else identified during the investigation.
In this context, Souhaid held a series of meetings on Jan. 13 with French investigative judge Clémence Olivier in Paris, BDL said in a statement. The trip had already been planned, as the governor wanted to go "voluntarily" to "exchange extremely sensitive information" related to judicial proceedings concerning the BDL.
