FROZEN ASSETS, FRACTURED TIES: THE LEBANESE DIASPORA AND THE BANKING CRISIS

Authors: Elie Daher*, Zina Kyriakou, Elias Abdallah, Jimmy Naipaul
Journal:  Emirati Journal of Business, Economics and Social Studies
Volume: Vol 5 Issue 1
Keywords: Lebanon, Diaspora, Crisis, Finance, Banking.

Abstract

In October 2019, Lebanon’s banking system collapsed, freezing and devaluing deposits held by millions, including a significant proportion of the Lebanese diaspora. While prior scholarship has documented the macroeconomic dimensions of the crisis, the subjective experience of diaspora members has remained largely unexplored. This study employed interpretive phenomenological analysis to explore how 25 members of the Lebanese diaspora, residing across six countries, lived through and made sense of the freezing and devaluation of their bank deposits. Four superordinate themes emerged: the destruction of institutional trust, the perception of systemic injustice and an accountability gap, forced financial and behavioural adaptation, and the deepening of involuntary diaspora alongside sustained psychological harm. The findings reveal that the crisis was not a single financial event but a compounding rupture that destroyed trust, confirmed injustice, restructured daily life, and permanently severed participants’ connection to Lebanon as a place in which a future could be built.