Banks in Libya

The Central Bank of Libya (CBL), called مصرف ليبيا المركزي locally, is Libya's state-owned monetary authority. It issues the Libyan dinar (LYD), manages foreign-exchange reserves and monetary policy, supervises banks and can provide emergency liquidity to the banking system. Its headquarters are in Tripoli, with branches in Benghazi, Sirte and Sabha. The CBL directory lists licensed commercial banks and identifies conventional and Islamic banks. It also lists specialized lending institutions such as the Agricultural Bank, the Savings and Real Estate Investment Bank, the Development Bank and the Rural Bank. Banking law is based mainly on Banking Law No. 1/2005, amended by Law No. 46/2012, which includes provisions for Islamic banking. Law No. 1/2013 prohibits riba, and Law No. 2/2005 addresses anti-money-laundering requirements. Planned reforms and proposed updates do not automatically change the current legal position. The CBL Banking and Monetary Supervision department uses off-site monitoring and on-site inspections. Banks are expected to maintain risk management, compliance, internal audit and external audit functions. The supervisory framework includes Basel II capital rules and CAMELS ratings from 1 to 5, and the CBL can intervene when a bank fails to meet requirements. Islamic banks also have Sharia-governance responsibilities. A bank should be selected from the CBL's licensed-bank directory. Opening or using an account normally involves the bank's customer-identification and anti-money-laundering checks. The exact documents and process depend on the bank, the account and the customer's circumstances. Branches, ATMs, POS terminals, mobile-banking applications, local cards and, where available, electronic wallets provide different access channels. Centralized banking platforms are intended to support transactions across branches and accounts in more than one currency, but actual availability remains dependent on the bank, region and liquidity. Common account types include current or demand accounts, savings accounts and time or term deposits. Islamic banks offer demand and savings products under their applicable Islamic-banking framework. Deposit-taking banks and institutions must belong to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF), called صندوق ضمان أموال المودعين. The DIF is a legally separate, CBL-supervised deposit-protection institution. Its current protection schedule covers LYD deposits but excludes foreign-currency deposits. Deposits held at different branches of the same bank are combined, while deposits held at different banks are treated separately. Under the stated schedule, protection is 100% up to LYD 10,000, 50% for LYD 10,001 to 100,000, 25% for LYD 100,001 to 400,000, 12.5% for LYD 400,001 to 1,000,000 and 10% above LYD 1,000,000, subject to a maximum of LYD 250,000. A claim arises after bank liquidation, with a target payment period of no more than 30 days. Banks pay the DIF 0.001 of insured deposit liabilities, subject to a minimum of LYD 250,000 and a maximum of LYD 20,000,000. Libya's payment infrastructure includes electronic clearing for low-value, high-volume payments below LYD 10,000 and the Real-Time Gross Settlement system (RTGS) for high-value payments above LYD 10,000. RTGS payments are final and irreversible before the end of the banking day. Electronic cheque clearing, SWIFT connections, national cards, Visa and Mastercard, ATMs and POS terminals support different payment needs. LYPay and OnePay are local electronic-payment services. Licensed payment service providers can issue local cards, acquire card payments, operate digital wallets and support mobile banking. CBL rules cover electronic payments, mobile payments and payment-service-provider contracts. Instant payments were announced as fee-free, while card and express-transfer commissions remain subject to CBL rules and bank conditions. POS merchant fees were reduced to 1% for health, pharmaceutical and food sectors and 1.5% for other sectors under a 2024 CBL measure. Banks and agencies should display their fee schedules, but customers should confirm the current charge for the selected product. Cash access remains uneven. Banknote shortages, cash hoarding and regional differences can limit withdrawals. A recent CBL report described a temporary Southern Region limit of LYD 4,000, split between LYD 2,000 at the counter and LYD 2,000 through an ATM; this was a reported regional measure, not a nationwide rule. Electronic payments are therefore a significant alternative. From January to July 2026, reported transaction values were approximately LYD 252 billion through LYPay and OnePay, LYD 33 billion through card POS payments at more than 270,000 POS terminals, LYD 209 billion through mobile banking, LYD 143 billion through RTGS, LYD 650 million through electronic wallets and LYD 5 billion through ATM withdrawals. These figures describe that period and should not be treated as stable annual totals. The National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2025-2029 proposes financial-inclusion accounts, stronger banking-data protection, digital banking identity, digitized government payments and possible domestic transfers without a bank account. These are strategy measures and do not prove that every planned service is already available nationwide. Current security duties include keeping identification details up to date, protecting cards and application credentials and reporting suspicious or unauthorized transactions to the bank immediately. The CBL's cybersecurity and information-technology requirements apply to banks, and goAML has been used since 2025 for suspicious-transaction reporting, with commercial banks registering reporting officers. The bank branch, application or call channel is normally the first contact for account, payment and card problems. The CBL is the supervisory authority rather than a general banking-dispute ombudsman. The DIF has an electronic complaint channel for deposit-insurance cases. The reviewed official sources do not establish an independent nationwide banking ombudsman. Companies handling foreign exchange or letters of credit through the Foreign Currency Management System (FCMS) need a valid CBL key, a company IBAN and verified national-ID, telephone and passport information; international or import payments can require further CBL and anti-money-laundering checks.