CBE: No Requests Received from National Bank of Oman to Exit Egypt Market

The Central Bank of Egypt has not received any requests from the National Bank of Oman regarding the cancelation of its banking license, a senior source told Amwal Al Ghad on Tuesday evening.

The CBE source further added that the National Bank of Oman in Egypt is a mere branch owned by a foreign bank and owns a license to carry out banking businesses in the country.

“NBO in Egypt is not a freestanding bank, therefore it has no right to waive the license to another banking entity.” The source noted

The NBO has significantly reduced the size of its banking businesses in Egypt due to some administrative policies adopted very recently. However, the bank has not submitted any formal requests to the central bank or has even given a hint  as regards to waiving its banking license.

The National Bank of Oman (NBO) is planning to end its banking activities in the Egyptian market by the end of June 2014, senior sources from the bank told Amwal Al Ghad early Tuesday.

NBO has started to adopt downsizing steps towards current workforce in its headquarters in Egypt, the bank’s sole branch in the North African country. The number of existing employees in the bank currently does not exceed 20.

Consequently, the NBO employees had organized a sit-in yesterday following the administrative decree as regard to deduct the end of service benefits.

The sources further added that the bank is also intending to cancel its banking license in Egypt within the upcoming phase.

The bank, which has one branch in Abu Dhabi in UAE, has established 67 branches since its establishment in 1973 in Oman.