BLC Bank is the only Lebanese bank to participate in the Global Banking Alliance for Women’s Summit in Washington, D.C., USA

As part of BLC Bank’s We Initiative program, aimed at supporting and empowering women in the economy and in line with the bank’s commitment to place women at the forefront of business and banking, BLC Bank took part in the 13^th annual Summit of the Global Banking Alliance for Women in Washington, D.C., thus contributing to finding new ways to provide female entrepreneurs vital access to capital, markets, training and education opportunities in order to help them thrive.

In the opening, president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Luis Alberto Moreno declared: “Banks like Royal Bank of Scotland, led by Chris Sullivan, Westpac Australia, led by Larke Riemer, and BLC Lebanon, led by Tania Moussallem, played a transformative role”.

The GBA Summit, held in Washington from Sept. 17-19, has been bringing together top talent from global financial institutions, government actors, policymakers and thought leaders for 13 years to share some of the best, ideas and policy thinking on the subject of female economic empowerment.

“BLC Bank has, for a number of years, worked to foster and grow women’s roles in business. Access to banking institutions is key, but so is training and building a policy framework that encourages and facilitates female entrepreneurs’ success”, said Tania Moussallem, Assistant General Manager of the Strategic Business Development & Financial Management Group at BLC Bank and Vice-Chairman and Treasurer of GBA’s Governing Board. “BLC Bank is proud to be a part of another GBA Summit, and we are keen to start translating the exciting ideas we saw into tangible development”, she continued.

The focus of this year’s Summit was on mechanisms to drive the growth and scale of women's wealth creation, with a mix of high-level policy discussions, and valuable networking, which BLC Bank took an active role in.

BLC Bank is also one of 15 banks GBA member– and the only Lebanese bank – participating in GBA’s Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment to Action, aiming to mobilize an additional $4.3 billion for women-owned businesses worldwide, to open up financial access for an additional 2 million women. The commitment has three levels: 1) Proving the business case for serving women through first-of-its-kind sex-disaggregated data collection, 2) Scaling knowledge transfer to promote rapid adoption by additional banks, and 3) Leveraging partnerships.

As part of the commitment, GBA banks have agreed to share data and results from their Women’s Market programs, creating what will be the first global warehouse of sex-disaggregated customer data from banks. The data will paint the first global picture of the female economy for banks, proving to them that this is a profitable segment to serve.

About the Global Banking Alliance for Women

The Global Banking Alliance for Women is a consortium of financial institutions driving women’s wealth creation. Our 41 member institutions work in more than 135 countries to build innovative, comprehensive programs that deliver women entrepreneurs the tools – access to capital, information, education and markets – they need to succeed. Membership in the Alliance provides our member institutions with a global clearinghouse for best practices and a unique platform for peer learning, giving them the resources they in turn need to serve their women customers well. To learn more and access our membership application, visit www.gbaforwomen.org.

About the Clinton Global Initiative

Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and implement solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 180 heads of state, 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date members of the CGI community have made more than 2,900 commitments, which are already improving the lives of more than 430 million people in over 180 countries. CGI also convenes CGI America, a meeting focused on collaborative solutions to economic recovery in the United States, and CGI University (CGI U), which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to address pressing challenges in their community or around the world. For more information, visit clintonglobalinitiative.org and follow us on Twitter @ClintonGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/clintonglobalinitiative.

About BLC Bank:

BLC Bank is focused on its vision of becoming a Bank of reference and is actively involved in financing productive economic sectors which have a lasting effect on national growth and sustainable development in Lebanon. To this effect, the Bank received local and international awards for its commitment to developing SMEs, fostering women’s economic empowerment and contributing in promoting CSR initiatives.

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