CAIRO- Bank Audi SAE has begun due diligence on buying National Bank of Greece's branches in Egypt, a banker involved in the process said.

The due diligence will be completed by the end of February, the banker said.

The website of National Bank of Greece's Egyptian unit lists 18 branches in Cairo and elsewhere in the country.

The banks could not immediately be reached for comment.

Bank Audi entered the Egyptian retail banking market with the purchase in 2006 of the three branches of Cairo Far East Bank SAE. It has since expanded its network to 46 branches, according to its website.

(Reporting by Afaf Ammar; Writing by Yousef Saba; Editing by Alison Williams and Mark Potter) ((Yousef.Saba@thomsonreuters.com; +201222184730))