Good morning wonderful people. The second day of the Enterprise Finance Forum kicks off in just a few hours at the St. Regis Hotel on the Nile Corniche. We look forward to seeing many of you there.

Yesterday’s gathering was outstanding — we had a full house on hand to enjoy unparalleled networking and insightful on-stage interviews with industry leaders. On behalf of all of our guests, our sponsors, and our partners, thank you to everyone who joined us on stage.

** We get underway this morning at 8:00am with our networking breakfast, with the opening panels starting at 9:00am.

You won’t want to miss today’s agenda. Our first panel tackles how to lead and grow a business in an unprecedented time of uncertainty. Our other discussions today will see top industry figures digging into:

  • Digital / challenger / neo banks;
  • How to transform a financial institution;
  • Whether NBFIs are a bubble;
  • Why nobody wants to be a banker;
  • What lawyers are seeing that the rest of us aren’t.

** For those of you joining us, please remember to bring the personal QR code you received yesterday on both days to ensure access to the venue — and your badge from yesterday, if you can.

There will be plenty of parking available.

Tap or click here to view the FULL AGENDA with SPEAKERS.

We’ll have panel-by-panel coverage of the Enterprise Finance Forum starting this coming Sunday — one panel a day. And yes, we’re hoping to convince McKinsey partner Larry Lerner to allow us to share a soft copy of his super deck on artificial intelligence. Larry is McKinsey’s global leader for banking and securities analytics. A former banker himself, he heads the firm’s global taskforce on generative AI for banking and flew in from Washington, DC, to speak with us all.

This flagship forum is the latest in our must-attend series of invitation-only events, where CEOs, bankers, investors, founders, and corporate leaders will meet to discuss the trends shaping the future of banking, finance, NBFIs, and fintech — and of their clients.

** We are honored to count some of the region’s most important financial institutions as our partners for this special event. The Enterprise Finance Forum could not take place without the support of our partners including Banque Misr, Al Baraka Bank, FABMISR, HSBC, Mashreq, Banque du Caire, CI Capital, Global Corp, Visa, Hassan Allam Utilities, the IFC, and Post for Investment.

FROM THE RUMOR MILL-

Delta Sugar + Mopco deny share sale rumors: The state-owned Delta Sugar Company (pdf) and Mopco (pdf) both denied knowledge of a report in Al Borsa that claimed the government is looking to sell shares in the firms. Delta Sugar said it had not received any offers to purchase shares while Mopco said it had “no knowledge of the published news.”

This isn’t the first time Delta Sugar has had to deny rumors in the press: The company was forced to deny links to ADQ last month after CNBC reported that the sovereign wealth fund had entered talks with the government to purchase a 10-15% stake.

Remember: The government has already sold almost half of Mopco to ADQ and the P ublic Investment Fund.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

The Finance Ministry will draft a new income tax law: That’s from Finance Minister Mohamed Maait, who was speaking at an ins. conference yesterday, according to Al Borsa. The new law will “take into account all economic and technological developments,” according to the newspaper. We won’t pretend to know what that means.

HAPPENING TODAY-

The Al Ezz Dekheila share buyback kicks off today: Steel maker Ezz Dekheila Steel will invite shareholders objecting to its delisting decision to sell their shares back to the company starting from today, it said in a statement (pdf) yesterday. The company is offering to buy the shares at EGP 1,250 apiece, a 4% premium on the current share price. Shareholders have until next Monday, 25 September, to make a decision.

Remember: Al Ezz Dekheila announced plans in July to delist from the exchange in the wake of its agreement to buy back the government’s 31% stake in the company.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

It’s interest rate week here at home: The Central Bank of Egypt is expected to leave interest rates unchanged when it meets on Thursday, according to our customary poll of analysts. All seven of the people we spoke to don’t think the central bank will act due to easing monthly inflation and the need to retain policy space for the anticipated devaluation. A Reuters poll returned a similar forecast.

And abroad:

  • The Federal Reserve: The US Federal Reserve will kick off its two-day policy meeting today. Expect rates to stay where they are, at least for now.
  • The Bank of England: Interest rates in the UK are expected to rise for a 15th consecutive time on Thursday, with a Reuters poll of analysts forecasting another 25-bps hike to 5.5%. This would be the highest Bank Rate since 2007.

Conference season gets well underway this week, with several several events opening their doors in the capital and beyond:

  • Sunday-Tuesday: Sharm Rendezvous ins. conference, Rixos Premium Seagate, Sharm El Sheikh.
  • Wednesday-Saturday: Cityscape Egypt, Egypt International Exhibition Center, Cairo.

Shoukry is in the Big Apple for the UN General Assembly: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is in New York this week to participate in the UN General Assembly kicking off on Tuesday. We have more on the minister’s schedule yesterday in this morning’s diplomacy section, below.

The general debate kicks off today: The leaders of Jordan, Qatar, Algeria and Turkey will all give their statements on the first day following UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ opening speech. The US, Germany, Japan and Ukraine will also speak today. It’s no t yet clear whe n President Abdel Fattah El Sisi will address the assembly.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

ROAD TO COP28–

Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad will co-chair climate finance negotiations during the upcoming COP28 summit with her Canadian counterpart Steven Guilbeault, the Environment Ministry said Monday. Talks are expected to begin in mid-September and run through to the end of the conference in mid-December.

Remember: As the host of last year’s COP27 summit, Egypt currently holds the COP presidency, and will hand it over to the UAE in the coming weeks.

THE BIG STORIES ABROAD-

#1- Instacart goes big: The online grocery delivery firm has priced its IPO at the top of the range, putting it on course to raise USD 660 mn. Remember: The company’s USD 9.9 bn valuation still makes the IPO a huge down round from its previous USD 39 bn valuation in 2021. (Bloomberg | Financial Times | Wall Street Journal)

#2- The oil rally: Bloomberg’s lead story this morning is sounding the alarm about a possible return to USD 100 oil as growing tightness in the markets continues to lift prices. Brent, which has risen more than 30% since its March low, came close to surpassing USD 95 a barrel yesterday. Some crude grades are already trading above USD 100 per barrel, including Nigeria's Qua Iboe and Malaysian Tapis.

We’re not trying to lift prices, insists Saudi energy minister: Saudi Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said yesterday that the country’s decision to extend supply curbs through the end of the year was about stabilizing the market rather than “jacking up prices.” Riyadh and Moscow’s decision earlier this month has caused analysts to warn of historic market tightness and OPEC data suggests that the curbs are setting the market up for its largest supply deficit in a decade in the final quarter of the year. (Bloomberg | Financial Times | Reuters)

#3- There’s beef between India and Canada: Canada has expelled an Indian diplomat after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Modi government of assassinating a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil. (Associated Press | Reuters | New York Times)

#4- Iran, US carry out historic prisoner exchange: The US and Iran completed a rare prisoner exchange yesterday, involving the release of five American detainees for five Iranians held in the US. The swap, which took place in Qatar, came alongside a US pledge to release USD 6 bn in frozen Iranian funds. (Associated Press | Reuters | New York Times | Washington Post | Wall Street Journal)

*** It’s Going Green day — your weekly briefing of all things green in Egypt: Enterprise’s green economy vertical focuses each Tuesday on the business of renewable energy and sustainable practices in Egypt, everything from solar and wind energy through to water, waste management, sustainable building practices and how you can make your business greener, whatever the sector.

In today’s issue: Is Egypt still a leader in the region’s green transition?

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