Jan 02 2007 |
more articles from
|
Banking on a new skyline
EGYPT'S banking sector was turned head over heels in 2006. Blom , Audi , United Arab, Piraeus , these are some of the new banks that Egyptians began to spot around corners in the past 12 months. The more familiar names of Misr- Romania Bank, Commercial Egyptian Bank, Cairo Far East Bank, Delta International Bank have vanished off the map. Another well-known bank is on its way to extinction, namely Banque du Caire , after its scheduled merger with Banque Misr at the end of 2006.The Banque Misr and Banque du Caire merger brings together the second and third largest Egyptian banks in the country, and once complete the new entity will have some LE136 billion in assets. This would make it larger than the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) , which holds LE131.7 billion in assets.
The year will also go down in history because the government kept its word by selling one of the four public sector banks. The Italian bank SanPaolo IMI paid $1.6 billion to buy an 80 per cent stake in Bank of Alexandria (BoA) during an auction in October.
Large Egyptian private banks had their share of changes as well, including Société Générale becoming the largest private commercial bank in Egypt following its purchase of 91 per cent of Misr International Bank (MIBank) in September 2005. Crédit Agricole Egypt (CAE) , a 60 per cent subsidiary of the Crédit Agricole group and the result of the recent merger between EAB and Calyon Bank , is now Egypt's third largest private commercial bank by assets. The deal was one of the most controversial of the year, with accusations that the price offered by Calyon to sweep EAB was undervalued.
Among the smaller banks which disappeared in this process were the Mohandes Bank and the Bank of Commerce and Development , which were taken up by NBE. After the takeovers across the board, the study continued, "in general, private sector banks operating in Egypt are today financially more solid than they were, and the market can be considered a more competitive place compared to a few years back."
© Al Ahram Weekly 2007
Zawya Comment Policy
-
Zawya encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You agree that when you add content to this discussion your comments will not:
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse. - The content posted on www.zawya.com is created by members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Zawya. Zawya reserves the right to review all comments prior to posting and edit or delete any contribution, but Zawya is not responsible for and can not be held liable for any content posted by members of the public on www.zawya.com.
- Zawya is not responsible for the availability or content of any third party sites that are accessible through www.zawya.com. Any links to third party websites from www.zawya.com do not amount to any endorsement of that site by Zawya and any use of that site by you is at your own risk.
- By submitting your comment, you hereby give Zawya the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comments worldwide, in perpetuity.
Copyright © 2012 Zawya Ltd. All rights reserved. |
provided by www.zawya.com |
Post Your Comment