CAIRO: Egypt s Central Bank has merged three banks into a new bank called the United Bank, to which it has granted a LE 3 billion ($520 million) loan, the central bank and an Egyptian newspaper said.
In a statement posted on the Cairo stock exchange Web site, the central bank said it had merged Nile Bank, United Bank of Egypt and the Islamic Bank for Investment and Development.
The financial newspaper Al Alam Al Youm said on Sunday the central bank had given United Bank LE 1 billion as paid-in capital, in addition to the LE 3 billion 10-year interest-free loan.
The Egyptian government has a plan to cut the number of banks operating in the country to streamline the sector and make dealing with bad loans easier.
The United Bank of Egypt s authorized capital is LE 500 million and paid in capital is 200 million, distributed among 20 million shares.
Details of the other banks in the merger were not immediately available. Reuters
