Get To Know Egypt’s Potential CBE Governor; Hisham Ramez

On December 22nd, the Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi has met with CIB’s Managing Director Hisham Ramez. News were circulated that the president asked Ramez to be the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) when Farouk El-Okdah resigns.

Ramez is a prominent Egyptian banker with 29 years of experience in international banking with a strong track record in the areas of Asset and Liability Management, Investment Banking and Risk Management.

Hisham Ramez has been the vice chairman and managing director of Commercial International Bank (CIB) since December 2011.

When CBE approved the appointment of Hisham Ramez as vice chairman and managing director at CIB, Commercial International Bank gained the most in almost a week. The shares rose as much as 3 percent to EGP 21.20 before closing at EGP 20.71 at 2:30 p.m. in Cairo, valuing the bank at EGP 12.3 billion.

Career Life:

Ramez was the Deputy Governor and Vice Chairman of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) from July 2008 to November 2011. His professional career began in 1982 as a foreign exchange and money market trader with Bank of America in Cairo. From there he moved on to become a senior trader with Bank of America in Bahrain before assuming the post of Vice President of the Arab Banking Corporation, also in Bahrain.

In 1996, Ramez returned to Egypt, where he became the General Manger and later CEO of the Egyptian Gulf Bank, a post he held until 2006. From December 2006 until June 2008, Ramez was the Chairman and Managing Director of the Suez Canal Bank.

He is a board member of the Arab Monetary Fund, the Egyptian American Business Council, Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority, Egyptian Exchange, National Bank for Investment, the Coordinating Council of the Government of Egypt and CBE, Anti-Money-Laundering Unit, National Organization for Social Insurance, Monetary Policy Committee of the CBE, and the Egyptian Banking Institute. Ramez is also the nonexecutive Chairman of the Arab International Bank.

About CIB:

Commercial International Bank was established in 1975 as a joint venture between the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) (51%) and the Chase Manhattan Bank (49%) under its original name Chase National Bank of Egypt. Following Chase’s decision to divest its equity stake in 1987, National Bank of Egypt increased its shareholding to 99.9%, and the Bank changed its name to Commercial International Bank (Egypt) S.A.E.

CIB has been consistently recognized on a global level as the ‘Best Bank in Egypt’, an award it has received on numerous occasions by publications such as The Banker, Global Finance, Euromoney and Emerging Markets.
Global Finance has recognized CIB as the ‘Best Bank in Egypt’,  for the last 10 years, The Banker has named it as ‘Bank of the Year – Egypt’, while Emerging Markets acknowledged it as ‘Best Bank in North Africa.

CIB was ranked the third among Egyptian banks in terms of value of loans with loan portfolio of EGP 40 billion as of the end of last June. The bank also acquired the third position in terms of value of deposits as its deposit portfolio reached EGP 76 billion at the end of last June.

Sources:
http://amwalalghad.com/en/business/banks/12478-banque-du-caire-5th-largest-deposit-holder-7th-lender-in-egypt.html

http://amwalalghad.com/en/business/banks/12595-cibs-hisham-ramez-likely-to-be-cbes-governor.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_International_Bank

http://www.cibeg.com/en/About/CorporateGovernance/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-19/cib-gains-in-cairo-after-central-bank-approves-ramez-appointment.html

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