BEIRUT: When the financial crisis ravaged the global economy in 2009, Lebanon’s banking sector profited from relative domestic political stability to achieve record-high growth.

Fransabank sal, one of Lebanon's top 10 banks, announced consolidated net profits of $106.7 million in the first nine months of 2010, up 42.7 percent from the same period last year, according to Byblos Bank's Lebanon This Week.