Usually through a licensed payment institution rather than a bank, though a bank may also do it. Banque du Liban licenses electronic payment services providers under Basic Decision No. 13790 of 9 January 2026, and cross-border money transfer is one of five categories such a provider must be separately licensed for. The central bank publishes the register of who holds which, and a provider licensed only for domestic transfers cannot be the far end of a payment from outside Lebanon.
Usually a licensed payment institution rather than a bank, and Banque du Liban runs a separate licence for that work. Cross-border money transfer is one of five categories such an institution must hold before it may stand at the far end of a payment from abroad. The register is public.
Key Takeaways
- Cash payout in Lebanon is a licensed activity governed by Basic Decision No. 13790 of 9 January 2026, issued as Basic Circular No. 1.
- There are five licence categories, and cross-border money transfer is its own, with its own capital requirement.
- Banque du Liban publishes the register, showing for each provider whether it is authorised for internal transfers, external transfers, or both.
- Money sitting with such an institution is a payment account, not a deposit, and carries no deposit guarantee.
- A transfer not collected after ninety days triggers a recovery mechanism, and the sender may claim it back within three years.
Why the payout counter is a licensed institution
Because Lebanon regulates it as one, and recently rewrote the rules. Banque du Liban issued Basic Decision No. 13790 on 9 January 2026 under Articles 70 and 174 of the Code of Money and Credit and Law No. 133 of 26 October 1999, transmitted under Basic Circular No. 1. The circular numbering runs as a separate series for each class of addressee, so a first circular to a class the decision itself creates is numbered one. It defines an electronic payment services provider as any institution intending to provide an electronic payment service, other than banks, finance companies and exchange institutions. Those three have their own regimes, so the decision governs what sits between them and the public.
An institution must obtain prior approval, and the licence is granted category by category.
| Category | Service |
|---|---|
| A | Electronic money |
| B | Local money transfer |
| C | Cross-border money transfer |
| D | Money collection and payment |
| E | Payment facilitators |
Category C is the one that matters to a sender in Australia. The decision defines it as sending or receiving funds electronically abroad through a contract with a foreign company. Category B moves funds within the country only. Holding one does not confer the other, and capital requirements are cumulative across categories.
What the published register shows
Banque du Liban keeps this list alongside those of banks, financial institutions, exchange institutions and specialised lending entities. Article 45 requires the register to be published in the Official Gazette each January, and any amendment as well.
The list is short and annotated. Read in September 2026 it named twenty-one providers, each with a column stating the transfers it is authorised for: internal, external, or both. Every entry carried external, and fourteen also carried internal. A licensed institution must display the number granted to it on its website, application and documents, which is what lets a recipient check it against the register rather than a shopfront.
What a payout institution may and may not do
The constraints are explicit, and several describe what the money is while it is held.
- It must be a Lebanese joint-stock company with nominal shares and a clear shareholding structure.
- Its bylaws must require it to refrain from borrowing.
- It is prohibited from money exchange, lending, and dealing in virtual assets.
- A payment account is used exclusively for executing payments and is not a deposit account in any form under Article 125 of the Code of Money and Credit, so its holder does not benefit from the National Deposit Guarantee Institution established under Law No. 28/67.
- Minimum capital is fifty billion Lebanese pounds for each of categories A to D and twenty-five billion for category E, cumulative across the categories an institution holds, with fifteen per cent frozen at the central bank and released only on liquidation.
- All customer and transaction data must be stored in Lebanon.
- A camera must be installed at each branch and each agent, capturing every operation carried out on its behalf, with records kept at least six months.
The rule for a transfer nobody collects
This is the part of the regime a sender is most likely to meet. An institution licensed for cross-border transfer must be connected to a foreign money transfer network approved by the central bank. The criteria include the reach and reputation of the foreign company, its internal control and money laundering controls, and that it does not require the Lebanese institution to deal with it exclusively.
Where a transfer has not been received ninety days after it was sent, four things follow. The institution must record it. It must coordinate with the contracted foreign company to recover the amount. It must deposit that amount in a separate United States dollar account in its own name at a bank in Lebanon. And it must notify the sender that the beneficiary has not received the funds. The sender may ask for the money back within three years of the sending date. After that, prescription applies and the balance goes to undistributable profits. The mechanism must be explained clearly, in Arabic and in a foreign language, on the back of the receipt given to the sender.
The transfer order itself carries a defined payload. It names the sender, evidenced by identity card, passport or biometric driving licence, together with their full address. It carries a unique reference number. It states the source, the destination and the purpose of the funds. And it identifies the recipient and the beneficial owner. All of it must reach the competent authorities within one business day of a request.
How the last leg reaches a town
Through agents, and the decision caps them. An institution may contract with agents only from among businesses registered in the Commercial Register, and no more than 1,200 across all governorates. It may not appoint agents in a governorate where it has not already opened a branch, and no branch may carry more than thirty. Each agent costs the institution one billion Lebanese pounds of allocated capital. The running balance between institution and agent must be covered by a cash or bank guarantee. And every agent is given a unique identification code, which the institution posts publicly.
What the recipient presents at the counter
The licensing decision does not say, and knowing that it does not say is useful.
Basic Decision No. 13790 is an instrument about the institution: who may hold which licence, what capital stands behind it, how many agents it may appoint, what it may not do with the money, and what the transfer order must carry. The only identification documents it names are the sender's - identity card, passport or biometric driving licence, with a full address - because those travel with the payment order and have to reach the competent authorities on request.
For the person collecting the money, the decision names no documents at all. It requires the order to identify the recipient and the beneficial owner, and it stops there. What a payout counter asks to see is a question for Lebanon's anti-money-laundering rules rather than for its licensing ones, and Basic Decision No. 13790 does not set them.
Why the cash side is so large
Because the alternative stopped working. The World Bank records account ownership among Lebanese adults at 44.8 per cent in 2017, 20.7 per cent in 2021 and 23.0 per cent in 2024. Its Lebanon Economic Monitor for spring 2023 put the cash economy at 45.7 per cent of gross domestic product in 2022, up from 26.2 per cent in 2021, and attributed the shift to the loss of confidence in an insolvent banking sector rather than to the tax avoidance that drives cash use elsewhere.
Where to look next
When remittances are the economy covers what large inbound flows do to a country that depends on them, and How international transfers work sets out the account-to-account path this one departs from. For live figures, see the Australian dollar to Lebanese pound page.
Sources
- Banque du Liban, Basic Circular No. 1 and Basic Decision No. 13790 of 9 January 2026, Electronic Payment Services Providers - the licence categories, capital and governance requirements, the payment account definition, the agent caps and the ninety-day mechanism
- Banque du Liban, List of Electronic Payment Services Providers - the register, with the internal and external annotation against each entry
- Banque du Liban, Institutions Supervised by BDL - the separate lists of banks, financial institutions, exchange institutions and payment providers
- World Bank, Lebanon Economic Monitor, Spring 2023: The Normalization of Crisis Is No Road for Stabilization - the cash economy estimates and the special focus explaining their cause
- World Bank, account ownership at a financial institution or with a mobile money service provider, Lebanon - the Global Findex readings
General information about sending money to Lebanon and the institutions licensed to pay it out. Not financial advice, and not a recommendation of any product or institution. Reviewed by the Tradergy editorial team, September 2026.
Common questions
Who is allowed to pay out an international transfer in cash in Lebanon?
An institution licensed by Banque du Liban as an electronic payment services provider holding Category C, cross-border money transfer, or a bank. Basic Decision No. 13790 defines the provider category as any institution intending to provide an electronic payment service other than banks, finance companies and exchange institutions, which have their own regimes.
How can you tell whether a Lebanese payout institution is licensed?
Banque du Liban publishes the register. Article 45 of Basic Decision No. 13790 requires publication in the Official Gazette each January, together with any amendment, and the central bank also carries it on its list of supervised institutions. Each licensed institution must display the number granted to it on its website, application and documents.
Is money held at a Lebanese payment institution a bank deposit?
No, and the decision says so directly. A payment account is used exclusively for executing payments and is not a deposit account in any form under Article 125 of the Code of Money and Credit. The holder does not benefit from the National Deposit Guarantee Institution established under Law No. 28/67.
What happens if nobody collects a transfer sent to Lebanon?
A ninety-day mechanism applies. The institution must record cross-border transfers not received ninety days after sending, coordinate with the contracted foreign company to recover the amount, place it in a separate United States dollar account at a bank in Lebanon, and notify the sender, who may claim it back within three years.
Why do so many people in Lebanon collect cash rather than use an account?
Confidence in the banking sector collapsed after 2019. The World Bank recorded account ownership among adults falling from 44.8 per cent in 2017 to 20.7 per cent in 2021, and its Lebanon Economic Monitor for spring 2023 put the cash economy at 45.7 per cent of gross domestic product in 2022.