Bank Audi reaches the top of the world

When Lebanese climber Maxim Chaya reached the summit of Mount Everest in May, champagne glasses clinked in the executive rooms at Bank Audi. Three years ago, Lebanon’s second-biggest bank decided to take a punt on Chaya (whose brother Nabil heads the capital markets division at the bank) and sponsored him to the tune of $250,000 in his bid to become the first Lebanese to climb the highest point in each of the seven continents (he also trekked to the North and South Poles). Everest was the last stop.