Ahli United Bank braces for 4 Branches, Mobile Banking Service

Ahli United Bank – Egypt (AUB) is seeking to inaugurate four branches in the second half of 2015, Head of the Retail Banking and Branches division Ashraf Shabib said Monday.

Shabib told Amwal Al Ghad that the bank had opened two branches during 2015; therefore, its network of branches currently includes 35.

AUB had obtained the Central Bank of Egypt’s approval to inaugurate four more branches within the second half of this year, the banking official added.

By end of 2015, AUB will eventually have 39 branches in Egypt, Shabib added.

Furthermore, Shabib said AUB is currently studying the locations to build planned mini branches in various governorates before submitting an official request to the CBE.

The bank aims to open mini branches within next September.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has set new requirements for opening new mini branches by banks operating in the Egyptian market late 2014.

According to the CBE’s requirements, the banks are required to hold 5 million Egyptian pounds in capital for every new mini branch opened in Cairo, 2 million pounds for the rest of governorates, except for Upper Egypt governorates which require only 1 million pounds for each mini branch.

Meanwhile, the banking official also said AUB braces for the launch of the Mobile Banking service before the end of 2015.

Mobile Banking is a mobile application that allows customers more choices in transferring funds and checking their bank accounts.

On other side, there are only seven banks that obtained CBE’s approval to activate Mobile Banking services, Shabib stated.

According to the Central Bank, Mobile Banking will enable the customer to only transfer funds through mobile phones with the minimum of 500 Egyptian pounds.

Moreover, Ahli United Bank has achieved profits estimated at 152.2 million pounds at the end of March 2015 opposed to 90.1 million pounds in March 2014, marking 69% increase.