We are proud to share that Elie Daher, a PhD candidate at the International Executive School, has published a new study in the Emirati Journal of Business, Economics, & Social Studies, exploring how members of the Lebanese diaspora lived through the collapse of their country’s banking system.

When Lebanon’s financial system collapsed in October 2019, it froze and devalued the savings of millions overnight, among them a significant portion of the country’s vast diaspora. Much has since been written about the economics of the crisis, but far less about how it was actually experienced by the people caught in it. Daher’s study set out to fill that gap, listening to diaspora members across six countries describe what the loss of their deposits meant for their trust, their families, and their connection to home.

What emerged was a portrait of a crisis felt far beyond the balance sheet. Participants described a profound collapse of trust, not only in the banks but in the state itself, and a deep anger at a system they believed had shielded the well-connected while ordinary savers absorbed the losses. Many spoke of rebuilding their financial lives from scratch, scaling back their living standards and turning away from Lebanese banking for good. Others described the quieter, more personal toll: lasting anxiety, strained family ties, and the painful decision to give up on any future connected to Lebanon.

Taken together, Daher’s findings suggest the crisis was not a single financial event but a compounding rupture, one that destroyed trust, deepened a sense of injustice, and severed many participants’ sense of belonging to their homeland. He notes that these insights carry real implications for policymakers, financial institutions, and the services that support diaspora communities affected by crises back home.

We congratulate Elie Daher on this achievement and are proud to see the International Executive School represented in scholarship that gives voice to those too often left out of the conversation.

Reference: Daher, E., Kyriakou, Z., Abdallah, E., & Naipaul, J. (2026). Frozen Assets, Fractured Ties: The Lebanese Diaspora and the Banking Crisis. Emirati Journal of Business, Economics, and Social Studies, 5(1), 76–93. https://doi.org/10.54878/cgdb7167