Egypt’s Sawiris says digital bank talks in homeland paused

Egyptian business tycoon Naguib Sawiris said on Wednesday that talks to establish a digital bank in homeland are stagnated due to some conditions related to obtaining the licence.

Speaking at a conference in Cairo, Sawiris said Orascom Financial Holding (OFH) had constructive talks with the Egyptian government and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) on the recent digital banking licence regulations and conditions. However, disagreement over some terms occurred and OFH would not able to apply to them in the right moment.

In July, the CBE issued new rules for licensing and registering digital banks. Among those new rules, digital banks must have a minimum issued and paid-up capital of 2 billion Egyptian pounds ($64.7 million) to practice all banking activities except financing large-scale businesses. To offer financing services to large-scale businesses, the CBE requires digital banks to increase their capital to 4 billion pounds. In addition, the largest shareholder in digital banks shall be a financial institution with a portfolio of relevant projects and activities and a stake of at least 30 percent of total capital.

In August, Orascom Financial made a statement that it had started conducting preliminary study into the possible launch of a digital bank in Egypt.