Signs for World-Check KYC Solution

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Byblos Bank S.A.L. and World-Check have recently inked a contract whereby Byblos Bank S.A.L. has become the first customer for an integrated KYC solution introduced by leading Intelligence Data provider to the financial community, World-Check.

Byblos Bank will implement World-Check's KYC (Know Your Customer) and PEP (Politically Exposed Person) intelligence in the countries where the bank has branches and subsidiaries: Lebanon, , , England, Syria, , Algeria and Sudan. World- Check, which services and government agencies in 120 countries, says Byblos Bank is a leader in applying KYC best practice across its operations and has the first most performing Compliance Unit in Lebanon as to the report of the Special Investigation Commission of the Central Bank. The service provides risk and identification specific information on individuals, companies and organizations. The ability to access this comprehensive database of heightened-risk individuals and entities known to represent a direct threat to financial institutions contributes greatly to reducing the business, reputation and regulatory risks for the bank.

World-Check specifically addresses the critical elements for effective global management of "Know Your Customer" risk throughout a banking group as prescribed by the Basel Committee, the Wolfsberg Group, and the AML/CFT standards contained in the FATF Recommendations.

Antoine Dagher, Head of Compliance Unit at Byblos Bank says: "The deal is an excellent example of how an integrated KYC solution that fulfills the need for risk and identification information in Lebanon and globally can help us manage our KYC risk on a global consolidated basis. World-Check will be an integral part of the account opening stage at the bank. Other succeeding key applications will be in payment filtering and regular client database auditing." Mr. Dagher concluded: "In addition to safeguarding the interests of our existing customers and to benefiting our correspondents, our partnership with World-Check will enable us to pass relevant KYC information between the head office and all our branches or subsidiaries."

David Leppan, Founder of World-Check says: “We, at World-Check are delighted with the news that Byblos Bank will use our industry standard KYC and PEP intelligence to reduce their risk. Byblos Bank is clearly determined to be at the forefront of its legal requirements and social responsibilities.”

World-Check covers over 220+ countries and territories – in detail. Multilingual teams across the globe monitor, correlate, analyze and build profiles of individuals and entities – including information on their network of reported associates and companies. Virtually, every sanction list is embedded, updated and enhanced. Having carried out research, a structured profile is created with 20+ fields. The synopsis provided on each profile will help the bank understand the risk in seconds. The World-Check database is updated twice daily by monitoring over 200,000 sources globally.

These high risk individuals and entities are often not included in the basic sanctions lists. The sites are monitored hourly, 24 hours a day in 40 different languages.

World-Check is used by over 1,200 financial institutions, regulatory and enforcement agencies around the world. The service is viewed as the benchmark in KYC.

------END ------About Byblos Bank Byblos Bank S.A.L. Lebanon ranks among the top 3 banks in Lebanon with an extensive network of 72 branches spread around the country www.byblosbank.com.lb Members of the Group include Byblos Bank s.a. (Belgium), ADIR (Adonis Insurance and Reinsurance Company s.a.l.), Partnership Byblos Bank and Assurances Banque Populaire, Byblos Bank ltd, Byblos Bank Syria S.A. (to open in 2005) and a representative office in Abu Dhabi.

About Byblos Bank Compliance Unit The Compliance Unit assists the Management in managing effectively risks faced by the bank, in relation with reputation and material. It operates through prompt reporting with the Special Investigation Commission in the Central Bank of Lebanon. The Compliance Unit works on identifying and evaluating the risks associated with the bank's business activities, including new types of business or customer relationships and assists in setting forth laws, rules and standards. It works also on educating staff on Compliance issues to increase their awareness on money laundering cases and acts as a contact point within the bank for AML queries from branches.