Jocelyne Chahwan
Blom Bank
Deputy CEO and Head of Retail Banking at BLOM Bank
Efma’s Boris Plantier speaks to Jocelyne Chahwan, deputy general manager and head of retail at BLOM Bank, to find out what a workday looks like for her.
Please tell me about your background.
I started my banking career in 1990 at the Bank of Montreal in Canada as a customer service officer. In just one year, I was promoted to assistant branch manager and later became the investment area manager, in charge of managing sales, investment products and daily branch operations.
In 1996, I decided to return to my homeland Lebanon for family reasons and joined BLOM Bank. My first role at BLOM was to spearhead the training and development department where I developed a model that is still being implemented to this day.
In 1999, I was selected to be part of the newly established retail entity as head of retail marketing. On another pillar, I was also pursuing my master’s in Business Administration at École Supérieure des Affaires (ESA) and had to balance between motherhood, work and education.
In 2005, I was appointed as the head of retail at BLOM. As of 2011, I became the first Lebanese banker on Visa’s advisory council for Levant and part of the Visa CEMEA Business Council. Today, I hold the title of deputy general manager of the bank.
