What Lebanese pound actually arrives in Lebanon when someone sends Australian dollars, at the live mid-market rate. We explain the process; we never recommend a provider.
| They send (AUD) | You receive at mid-market (LBP) |
|---|---|
| 500 AUD | 31,287,500 LBP |
| 1,000 AUD | 62,575,000 LBP |
| 2,000 AUD | 125,150,000 LBP |
| 5,000 AUD | 312,875,000 LBP |
Mid-market equivalents, not transfer quotes - the sender’s provider deducts its margin and any fees before the money reaches you. STRUCK 11:00 AEST · TUE 13 OCT.
A slim Mediterranean country where snowy peaks look down on beaches, and cedar trees have symbolised the land for millennia. Beirut has been rebuilt so many times it's lost count.
Two red horizontal bands top and bottom with a white band between them as wide as both reds together, bearing a green cedar in the centre. Article 5 of the constitution fixes all of that and the cedar's size and placement with it - a third of the white stripe, its apex touching the upper red stripe and its base the lower - and assigns none of it a meaning. The red is conventionally read for sacrifice, the white for peace and the snow of the mountains, and the cedar for the country itself.
Sources: lp.gov.lb, presidency.gov.lb · checked 2026-08-26
A continent pretending to be a country - Australia is the only nation that fills an entire continent, with most of its 27 million people clinging to the coast while the red-dirt interior does its own thing.
A blue field with the Union Jack in the canton, a large white seven-pointed Commonwealth Star below it, and the five white stars of the Southern Cross at the fly. Six of the big star's points stand for the states and the seventh for the territories; the Southern Cross marks Australia's place in the southern sky.
Lebanon’s pound lost the overwhelming majority of its value after 2019 and much of the country now transacts in US dollars regardless of what is written on the note. A recipient may be far better served by a dollar account than a pound one, so ask before choosing this pair.
The exchange rate is set on the sending side - by the service the sender chooses in Australia - so the most useful thing a receiver can do happens before the transfer: share the live mid-market rate on this page so the sender can judge the margin in their quote. How the money arrives in Lebanon determines any local receiving charges - bank-to-bank transfers can pass through intermediary banks that deduct handling fees.
Sending rather than receiving? The sender’s view of this corridor covers the same rate from the other side. The AUD/LBP converter page handles any amount. Receiving money from overseas explains the process end to end.
Lebanon keeps money that arrived from abroad in a compartment of its own, and the walls of it are physical. Under Basic Decision No. 13548 of 19 April 2023, Fresh Money means funds transferred from abroad or received as foreign-currency banknotes after 17 October 2019. Every participant in the central bank's national payment systems had to open new accounts at Banque du Liban, in pounds and dollars, for clearing and transferring it and nothing else. Those accounts carry an additional messaging code, with a branch code of DLP.
From there the separation becomes visible. Cheques drawn on them are marked in the clearing line and, under the same decision, must carry the word Fresh printed in green beneath the bank's name. And the compartment has a wall: transfers between a participant's Fresh Money accounts and its other accounts at the central bank are prohibited outright.
What sits behind the separation is cash. A bank must hold, with itself, with an overseas correspondent in an unencumbered account, or at the central bank, an amount equal to the full value of the Fresh Money it holds in foreign currencies - a requirement added in 2021 and last amended in May 2026.
The rule the whole arrangement grew from is not a grant of rights to the owner at all. Basic Decision No. 13217 of 9 April 2020 relieves a bank of mandatory placements at the central bank against funds transferred in from abroad after that date, and it makes free use by the owner a condition the bank must satisfy to get that relief. The list is spelled out: all the banking services the bank offers, cash withdrawals, card use in Lebanon and overseas, and outgoing cross-border transfers. A later article keeps the arrangement intact if the owner converts the money into another foreign currency, or moves it to a different Lebanese bank, provided that move goes through a foreign correspondent.
Sources: Banque du Liban, Basic Circular No. 165 and Basic Decision No. 13548 of 19 April 2023 · Banque du Liban, Basic Circular No. 150 and Basic Decision No. 13217 of 9 April 2020 · Banque du Liban, laws and regulations
How much Lebanese pound will I receive in Lebanon?
A little less than the mid-market figures above. The service the sender uses in Australia sets the rate and fees; local receiving banks in Lebanon can also apply their own charges depending on how the transfer arrives.
The sender asked for my details - what will they need?
Whatever their transfer service asks for on the receiving side - typically your full legal name and local bank account details in Lebanon. Give the name exactly as your bank records it; mismatches are the most common reason a transfer is delayed.
Why did I receive less than the rate on this page suggests?
No retail provider transacts at the mid-market rate - it is the midpoint of the wholesale market. What separates it from a quoted rate is margin, and margin is normally a larger cost than any advertised fee. On a bank-to-bank transfer an intermediary bank can also deduct a handling charge in transit.