About Us – Levant Trading Solutions

About Levant Trading Solutions

Levant Trading Solutions sal (LTS) is a Lebanese corporation established and registered at the Beirut Commercial Court under number 1028849. Founded by Nicolas Photiades; Chairman of the Board and Dr. Ghassan Chammas; Board Member.

After working in the financial sector for a combined 50 years, both in Lebanon and abroad, our founders had the idea for Levant Trading Solutions seven years prior. They began to organize its launch at the beginning of 2022. The chance to launch the business presented itself, especially in light of the severe economic crisis that decimated the banking sector in Lebanon and the Lebanese economy as a whole.

Collapse Of The Banking Sector

In a nation where the local currency lost 95% of its value in less than 24 months, no financial intermediation is possible because of the collapse of the banking sector, and where the economy was transformed from a state-of-the-art 21st century economy to a cash and barter economy, the founders believed in innovation and calculated risk taking that will benefit importers in need of liquidity. Currently there is a critical shortage of liquidity (cash) in the Lebanese economy in particular for food importers impacting severely the country's food security. Importers actually stock in cash US dollars before they could place their next order with their supplier and transfer (or wire) the money so that their order could be shipped to Lebanon. The absence of the banking intermediation is delaying the arrival of the shipments and increase import cost and as a result a spiral prices increase is completely assumed by the final consumer.

Factoring Brokerage

The concept of Levant Trade Solutions as an unconventional factoring brokerage, is to connect importers with credit insurance companies, and factoring agencies, on the basis of a set of strict procedures and guidelines. LTS will act as an intermediary commercial company to bridge the gap between the Lebanese importer and supplier abroad allowing imports without opening a Letter of Credit at banks. In the initial phase, it will only accept importers of food supplies and food raw material without further processing, preferably with pre-agreed sales contracts in the Lebanese market. LTS partners with the best food importers, suppliers, credit insurance agencies and factoring agencies to develop a solid and long lasting business relationships.

Our Mission

To serve our community by empowering the Lebanese food importers with a creative and pioneering financial tool. The aim is to fill in the significant gap left by the incapacitation of the Lebanese banking sector and ensure food security in long-term. The service provided by Levant Trading (LTS) will allow importers of food products to better manage their cash flow and working capital requirements. We have established an exclusive partnership with solid and well-established credit insurance and factoring companies, which would not only ensure that LTS’ work and process are complete, but which would also mitigate to the maximum all possible risk factors.

Our Vision

To help businesses throughout Lebanon have access to alternative financing for ensuring import operations continuity and the continuous flow of the food supply to the Lebanese economy. Our objective is to become a leading regional factoring brokerage firm for entities involved in trading food products, and to position the institution as one of the primary links between the local food importers, their suppliers, and factoring companies. It is our goal to help clients manage their cash flow resulting from trading activities, as well as establishing long-term business relationships with a wide range of importers & suppliers of food products in the region.

Corporate Governance

LTS has implemented a sound corporate governance principle to ensure that all aspects of its operations are aligned to the highest standards and international best practices. The code of corporate governance adopted by LTS is designed and oriented to protect the interests of all of our stakeholders. In that spirit, LTS corporate governance code defines the roles and responsibilities of its corporate bodies, enhancing their social responsibility and ethical practices and behaviour. 

LTS corporate governance charter is oriented towards mitigating related risks to factoring intermediation by executing a full set of forms that successfully distinguish, evaluate, screen and control the risk exposure by its various stakeholders. For that purpose, the BOD established the various management committees each in its line of business to oversee and decide on the day-to-day operations of the company, and suggest adequate decisions as per the internal policies and procedures.

Credit Committee

1. Study and analyze reports submitted by the Credit Department, its risk, its feasibility both financial and economic.

2. Study and analyze studies presented by the client or feasibility studies presented through the credit department.

3. Take the appropriate decisions regarding credit files within the committee’s authority mentioned above.

4. Follow up on the work of the credit department.

HR Committee

1. Create and/or monitoring value-based systems and policies to ensure that LTS is following local labor law and certain best practices relating to its employees

2. Create an attractive environment for current and prospective employees

3. Evaluate the annual performance of the company’s staff

4. Follow up on the work of the HR department.

Purchasing Committee

1. Primarily responsible for monitoring, verifying and ensuring that approved procurement procedures have been applied properly.

2. Review the procurement process; including tendering, evaluation, contract award

3. Reporting mechanisms for monitoring compliance with relevant laws and regulations.