MPs pass banking bill: The House of Representatives yesterday approved a government-proposed bill that will revoke the establishment laws of the Arab Investment Bank (aiBank), the Export Development Bank (EBank), and the Agricultural Bank of Egypt.

The rationale: Each of the banks are regulated by the 2020 Banking Act but also operate under their own separate establishment laws, a couple of which date back more than three decades. The newly-approved bill aims to align these lenders with the current banking regulations, ensuring parity among all banks operating in the country and removing any potential obstacles to restructuring them, said House Economic Affairs Committee Chairman Mohamed Soliman. This will mean that they will all be regulated exclusively by the Banking Act.

The revoked laws are outdated:aiBank’s establishment law was written to help it carry out its original purpose to support investment and development projects in the long-defunct Federation of Arab Republics (Egypt, Syria and Libya). Meanwhile, EBank’s establishment law makes no distinction between ownership and management rights and places limitations on who can own shares in the bank, hindering the lender’s restructuring efforts and making it difficult to improve governance.

Remember: EFG Holding and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE) acquired a 76% stake in aiBank in 2021.

AND- MPs gave their final approval to several other bills yesterday:

  • Five bills licensing the Oil Ministry to contract foreign firms Eni subsidiary IEOC, BP, and Wintershall Dea to explore for gas in the Med, each in partnership with state-owned EGAS;
  • An EUR 3.3 mn grant to renovate Cairo Metro’s Line 1 and an EUR 1.8 mn grant to renovate Line 2, both from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development;
  • A bill making official Egypt’s membership of the African Continental Freetrade Area (AfCFTA)agreement; and
  • A bill changing the name of the Nasser Military Academy to the Military Academy for Higher Studies and Strategies.

The House is now taking a week-long break and will reconvene on Tuesday, 20 June.

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