In decades past Lebanon has found itself in the eye of the storm and in centuries past it has been both the cradle of Mediterranean civilisation and the battleground of mighty empires.

These days, the country’s pivotal strategic position as a vital entrepot of commerce at the heart of the Middle Eastern world means the new generation still faces seemingly intractable problems while at the same time also being offered the prospect of dazzling challenges.

The Middle East’s banking sector is a highly complex organism which has grown, salmon leap fashion, to answer the rocketing demands posed by inward investment and large-scale regional development – it is a system fine-tuned to accommodate growth but fraught with conundrums and pitfalls for the unwary.

It would be difficult to imagine a more sophisticated business banking environment than Lebanon in one sense, but at the same time the USA has been lobbying hard for the country to invest in new restraints designed to further curb the threat of terrorism and money laundering.

Regional banking organisations argue the sector demonstrates a sound record of compliance with international rules, stressing that its efficiency is underpinned be a willingness to accept the supremacy of international resolutions.

The devil is in the detail, of course, and banks in Lebanon admit that no system is completely immune to infiltration, but there is no doubt the management systems which have evolved from one of the oldest continuously developed banking cultures in the world are firmly geared to one over-riding goal – to keep Beirut in its pole position as Mid-East financial super-hub, one with a major role to play regionally and across the world.

There’s a pzazz about this deeply ancient business finance tradition which is best summed up by the recent innovation from Byblos Bank (one of Lebanon’s top three) and digital security combine Gemalto. They teamed up to launch the Middle East’s first bio-sourced cash card, clearly indicating that the days of plastic are numbered.

Rather than just some flashy green gimmick, the move is designed to flag up in the most obvious way the importance renewables and conservation have in every single detail of bank management, since that is where gigantic levels of investment will be made in the future.

Holders of the new cards will be offered incentives such as air miles or travel points under the bank’s loyalty programme, as a simple reward mechanism for engaging the customer in the whole concept of “green” in the most rudimentary way.

The bank’s official explanation is that the card underlines Byblos’ strategic vision in evaluating and managing the environmental impact of every policy initiative it takes – and this policy will emphatically permeate every root and branch of the system.

Rather than being dyed in the wool, it seems, the biggest legacy of the sector’s long-established and complex traditions is a built-in propensity to develop new and profitable avenues for future growth – it has never been a climate in which successful banks have been content (or indeed able) to rest on their laurels.

Read the manifest for a major Lebanese banking player these days and you will immediately be confronted with a list of “must-haves” apparently thoroughly covered – for example advanced security, flexibility, good interest rates.

While this manifest continues to stack up from the customer’s point of view the system will continue to grow, in turn underpinning further growth.

It is an environment in which the banks are implicitly geared for expansion, and one whose obvious awareness of the volatile conditions in the wider region has led to the counter-measures judged to be best calculated to keep any threat to further development at bay.

This month the country’s caretaker Prime Minister told the Union of Arab Bank officials that the banking sector in Lebanon continued to enjoy steady growth in spite of “lingering political crises” – while noting the decline of tourism, flat growth in exports, and a slump in Arab investment.

The key to future growth and robust financial security is seen as a greater willingness by the wider apparatus of the Arab banking work to pool resources, reducing the need for international funding for what ought to be locally-managed development plans.

The dangers posed by the mercurial political situation are obvious, but at the same time the country is committed to a policy of non-interference in other countries’ affairs – and in the current climate it may prove crucial to the economy’s future health for this to be seen to be true.

A system with less international connectivity or resilience would surely buckle under the strain, but the Lebanon has always been a thriving financial centre – right back to the days of booming trade in ancient Tyre – and in the past has proved more than capable of riding out the most threatening storm.

Recent positive news about the sector, and despite the unpromising trading conditions, suggest it may be little different this time around.