Egypt Regulator Announces CBE’s Pact on Bonds, ETFs Launch within Days

Egypt’s market regulator is planning to increase the size of bonds traded in the country’s bourse as well as to launch the long-awaited ETFs within days.

The Egyptian market regulator chief announced on Thursday an agreement with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) which aims to increase the size of bonds traded on the Egyptian bourse.

Amwal Al Ghad has cited Dr. Sherif Samy – Chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) – as saying that his authority had agreed with the CBE to activate the bonds market.

As persuant to the agreement, banks operating in Egypt will act as the market-maker through allocating portion of the banks’ bond portfolios to be traded in the market, he added.

The top official added that the authority’s agreement comes in the wake of two extensive talks held with the Egyptian Ministry of Finance, the CBE, and the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) to outline the mechanisms for the activation of the bond market. This comes as the treasury bills as well as the treasury bonds account for 50% of the banks’ balances of sheet.

The Egyptian official further elaborated that the Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) is set to be launched within the next few days with the aim of alluring more investors and lowering the current investment obstacles.