(AFP Photo)
By Hossam Mounir
The Commercial International Bank (CIB) Egypt signed the final agreement to acquire Citibank Egypt’s retail portfolio Tuesday.
The executive procedures will start immediately upon the completion of the needed agreements of the regulatory authorities.
“This deal is an addition to CIB. The portfolio is of high quality and is managed by an efficient staff,” said Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, Chairman and Managing Director of CIB.
Ezz Al-Arab added that “as Citibank has a human resource policy very similar to that of CIB, we anticipate that the integration of the bank’s staff into CIB will be seamless and add significant value to our clients, as well as shareholders. CIB welcomes Citibank’s team and its integration into the CIB family.”
“The deal will take two to three months to be implemented,” said Lamis Negm, Vice President of Citibank Egypt in a statement to Daily News Egypt.
Some banks, such as CIB, HSBC, Mashreq Bank, Emirates NBD, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Bank Audi, strongly competed to purchase Citibank’s retail portfolio.
On October 2014, American Citibank announced its plan to exit the retail banking activities in 11 markets, including Egypt. The bank clarified that the plan aims at reducing costs, and that it needs to complete the sale in these markets by the end of 2015.
Individual clients with open bank accounts in Citibank amount to approximately 100,000 clients. Shares are estimated at $135m and deposits at $190m, while there are 23 ATM machines. The bank also employs 822 members.
