Ladies & Gentlemen,

In year 2009, the global economy has faced hard challenges in the aftershocks of the recent international financial crisis.
The Lebanese Economy, on the other hand, has pursued a vigorous performance, avoiding largely the direct repercussions
of the world economic recession. Main sectors have continued to thrive in spite of the unfavorable operating environment
and have registered a positive growth, particularly construction and tourism. However, a sustainable economic expansion
is seriously hindered by the burden of the public debt and the high debt to GDP ratio of 156%.
The Lebanese Banking Sector has proven steadily growing during the past years, in prosperous and in difficult periods. This
is the fruit of the prudent and stringent regulations of the Central Bank and the expertise and the wise policies of the
Lebanese banks. While most of the regional and international banks suffered sharp slowdown in activities in 2008 and 2009,
the Lebanese banks continued to attract deposits, which strengthened the Central Bank's foreign reserves.
In this context, BIT Bank's consolidated balance sheet has grown by 4.74% and Customer' Deposits by 5.2%. During the
year, the Bank has realized a satisfying improvement in its overall financial performance and has maintained a relatively
high level of risk based capital ratio of 23.8% and liquidity ratio of 81%. Also, for many years, and in order to strengthen its
provisions and net worth, the Bank continued to allocate a big portion of the yearly profits to provisions account.
In 2009, we continued our development strategy. We have consolidated our capital market practice and our central credit
operations. We have reinforced our Management team executives in order to grow the Bank's activities. We focused on
improving our customer service, providing the best quality of banking services. We provided our staff members with professional
guidance and practical training in order to meet our goal.
The Bank has implemented MasterCard Un-embossed debit cards directly linked to the cardholder's bank accounts.
Furthermore, and in compliance with the Banks Control Commission requirements, we have implemented in 2010 a
Management Information System with a full fledge Data Warehouse for Risk Management. Such a solution will enable the
Bank's management to have adequate reporting, simulation and stress tests in a timely manner that will help decision makers
in their analysis and study.
The challenges of the tight competition in the local Banking Sector urge us to further efforts. We have to, constantly, grow
our footholds in the market and to enhance the scope of our activities. I remain confident that all together, Board members
and BIT Bank's management team, will ensure successfully all these targets to the benefit of our Bank.

Sincerely,

Fouad Jamil El- Khazen
Chairman & General Manager