Banque du Liban et du Commerce (BLC) allows Lebanese women to open accounts for their under age children || Newspapers (Arabic)

Despite the long struggle for equality between women and men in Lebanon, most banks in Lebanon still refuse to allow Lebanese women to open bank accounts for their underage children because fathers are generally still considered to be the sole custodians of their underage children.
However, the BLC bank appears to have made a breakthrough in this matter.  Indeed, the bank’s head of marketing and production, Ms. Carel Ekilian, declared in an interview to the Al Nahar newspaper that the bank is proud to have started this initiative along with other concrete steps aiming at supporting women to access all their financial and banking rights.  According to Ekilian, there is no law that prohibits Lebanese women from opening bank accounts on behalf of their underage children.  She added that back in 2009, the banking association along with a number of lawyers attempted to find solutions for this issue especially in relation to the status of fathers as custodians for their underage children (or the grandfather in case the father is absent).  This, according to Ekilian, has prompted the bank to make this bold move and allow women to open bank accounts for their underage children.  The accounts will be automatically transferred to the children’s names as soon as they reach 18 years of age.

Original news in Arabic: Annahar