BEIRUT - Lebanon's Fransabank said on Thursday its branches would remain open but unable to execute cash transactions including at ATMs while it appeals a judicial order that has frozen its assets and sealed its vaults.

This week's judicial order resulted from a case brought by a man who was seeking to unlock funds trapped in Lebanon's banking system since 2019.

More than $100 billion remains stuck in a banking system paralysed since 2019, when the Lebanese economy collapsed due to decades of unsustainable state spending, corruption and waste. Most savers have been unable to get their cash as banks have imposed restrictions on withdrawals and transfers abroad.

Fransabank said in a statement it considered the judgement "abusive". It has appealed.

The order required Fransabank to reopen the man's account and pay out his deposit in cash, or else its assets would be seized, his lawyer Rami Ollaik said.

Fransabank said on Thursday its central vaults had been sealed, "limiting the bank's ability to resume its normal cash operations".

A judicial source said the decision to freeze banks' assets and main safes did not prevent them from paying out money.

Fransabank said the man had asked for his deposit to be withdrawn in U.S. dollars but "due to current prevailing restriction(s)" the bank returned the deposit by a bankers cheque delivered to a notary, for which he signed.

Banks have closed many dollar accounts in the country by issuing cheques which cannot be cashed. Instead these change hands in the market at a fraction of their face value.

Banks have called on the government to pass a capital control law, but in the absence of formal controls, they have largely blocked dollar withdrawals and transfers abroad, sparking numerous legal challenges, with mixed results.

(Reporting by Tom Perry and Timour Azhari; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)