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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 June 1999 Issue No. 432 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 June 1999 Issue No. 432
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Interview Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Citibank jubilee expansion
By Niveen WahishCitibank celebrated 25 years of operation in Egypt last week. During a press conference marking the occasion, bank officials expressed their intention to broaden the bank's activities in the Egyptian market, especially in view of its 1998 merger with Travellers Group which created Citigroup.
Egypt's increasingly open economic environment is creating a new role for the bank, according to Anjum Iqbal, division executive for Africa. He said that throughout its 25 years in Egypt, Citibank's role has been limited "because of what we were allowed to do". However, over the last three or four years, "the government has allowed us to play a bigger role," he added. This is due to the increased liberalisation of the financial sector and the passage of legislation allowing majority foreign ownership of Egyptian banks.
Whenever governments take measures to open up their economies, markets grow, he said. "And that is what attracts us."
Moreover, as a result of strengthening Egypt's financial services' infrastructure through the privatisation of banks and the introduction of various regulatory reforms, capital is attracted, not only from outside, but also domestically. "Once that starts happening, we start to broaden our products," Iqbal said.
In fact, the bank will start doing that by launching a Citibank credit card in Egypt during the next few months.
(l-r) Iqbal, Maughan and Elliott
Highlighting the importance of Egypt for Citibank, Deryck Maughan, vice-chairman of Citigroup, said, "Egypt for us is a prime market opportunity." He pointed out that there are a number of "interesting" companies in Egypt which now require the regular services of the bank, but are looking to invest outside Egypt and to raise capital abroad. "I believe we can be of significant value to those companies," he said.
Maughan said that Egypt's consumer and corporate markets are appealing. Egypt responded well to the economic challenges of the last two years and has retained the confidence of international investors, according to Maughan. "We would like to capitalise on that to the benefit of our customers here," he said, adding that he is hopeful the government will continue to promote the concept of privatisation.
Maughan said that he expects the Egyptian market to become more open and more competitive which will benefit consumers. Referring to the banking sector, he said, "When competition is introduced, there is consolidation. The weaker banks that have little capital will go out of business and the stronger banks will get stronger, which means more competition."
Shayne Elliott, Citibank's country head for Egypt, described the Egyptian banking market as "already very competitive". Speaking of the new role of his bank in Egypt after the formation of Citigroup, he said, "The merger, for us, broadens the number of products that we can compete in."
He also underlined his bank's interest in developing long-term relationships with private sector companies in Egypt. "They are very interesting, quite entrepreneurial and have plans to build regional networks in the Middle East and parts of Africa."
Citibank has 100 branches in as many countries worldwide. Citigroup boasts assets worth more than $700 billion. It is a diversified holding company which provides a broad range of financial services worldwide.
