Bassim Kanaan

Bassim Kanaan started his legal career in private practice at major law firms in Lebanon handling a wide range of commercial and corporate matters, with a particular emphasis on Banking, Finance and Capital Markets.
In 2006, Bassim joined the Saudi Oger/Hariri Family Group where he acted as deputy-General Counsel for 12 years, advising on all investments and related activities of the Group as well as the Group’s complex and sophisticated cross border transactions; he was responsible for providing the legal support on all major international financing and project financing transactions of Saudi Oger and its affiliates.
In 2017, Bassim took the role of Group General Counsel of Bankmed sal, one of the major banks in Lebanon and owned by the Hariri Family.
For four years at Bankmed, he advised the Board on all legal matters and managed the legal affairs of the bank across all its local and international units.
Bassim joined the National Holding Group in 2021 taking the role of General Counsel at Emirates International Investment Company.
Besides handling the legal affairs of EIIC and its subsidiaries, he provides legal advice at Group level, advising the Board on all strategic matters, and serving at various committees across the Group.
Bassim Kanaan holds an LL.M.
(in International Legal Studies) from the Georgetown University Law Center, and a Licence en Droit in Lebanese and French Law and a DEA in Private Law from the Université Saint Joseph, Faculty of Law and Political Science in Beirut, Lebanon.
Bassim Kanaan was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2004, and is a member of the Beirut Bar Association since 1999