A new bank is in town: British multinational bank Standard Chartered ’s newly formed local arm Standard Chartered Egypt has officially begun banking operations after getting the final go-ahead from the central bank, according to a statement (pdf) from the bank yesterday.

We sat down with the lender’s Egypt CEO Mohammed Gad to discuss why Egypt, why now, and what the bank is hoping to achieve in its first year here. Gad has more than 22 years of experience in the industry. He joined Standard Chartered in 2012 and has since held senior roles at the bank including, CEO of its operations in Qatar. Below are edited excerpts from our conversation:

Enterprise: Why Egypt? And why now?

Mohammed Gad: Egypt is a very important market for our global network. From Standard Chartered’s global and MENA perspective, Egypt is an important piece of the puzzle. We need to be on the ground in Egypt, supporting our clients. Most of our multinational clients banking with Standard Chartered around the globe are present in Egypt.

We're not new to Egypt, we’ve had a representative office since 2007. But now, we’ve upgraded our presence in Egypt to a full-fledged commercial bank. Egypt has the third-largest GDP in the Arab world, with very dynamic demographics and a youthful population, so there's a lot of growth potential here.

And now Egypt has become a part of Brics, and we have had a strong footprint in most of the Bricscountries for decades. It’s more meaningful for us to have a proper presence in Egypt because of the investment and trade opportunities from being in Brics that will now be open to Egypt.

E: What will happen now that Standard Chartered has become a fully licensed commercial bank?

MG: Now we are licensed by the Central Bank of Egypt as a branch of a foreign bank, we will be a branch of Standard Chartered in Egypt. The focus will be wholesale banking, so we'll focus on corporate and investment banking. We don't have a retail presence now, but in the long term we plan to penetrate the retail market.

Being part of a full franchise means that we can support all our clients in trade, the financial markets, and help them hedge risk, whether it's commodity prices or FX rates. We can also support them withproject finance, export credit agencies, and what we call structured export finance — to help our clients to mobilize funding from multilateral organizations and development banks.

E: But what about wealth clients?

MG: We have our wealth centers across the globe, so if there is a wealth client in Egypt or a private banking client in Egypt, we can definitely give them the full support and a fully fledged service through our global network, including Singapore, Hong Kong, UAE, New York, and London.

E: Why a new license? Why not enter via acquisition?

MG: We thought it was better to build our own franchise with our own systems, policies and procedures.We knew it would be more difficult to build a bank from scratch, but we have a very focused mandate.You're building your own infrastructure, technology infrastructure, your policies, and procedures, all from scratch. But, it's a cleaner way to start.

E: How was it working with the central bank?

MG: The Central Bank of Egypt has been a great supporter of Standard Chartered, and now is a good time to thank the leadership and the whole team at the CBE. We dealt with a lot of stakeholders in the central bank and all of them have given us immense support. They were very keen to clear any hurdles or roadblocks for Standard Chartered and I don't think we would have been successful in launching without the support and the guidance we got from the central bank.

E: Where do you see your competitive edge?

MG: Our edge comes from our ability to mobilize the funding needed through the multilaterals and multilateral development banks to support any capex, infrastructure, utilities, or greenfield project finance for the Egyptian government and its affiliates. Also, our ability to mobilize and facilitate the flow of investment, trade, and capital to support the economic aspirations of Egypt.

And we are a trade bank at heart, so we'll support our clients to help them better manage their money and to help them import or export.

We have our own industry experts as well, or what we call industry bankers, who are focused and specialized in power, utilities, and infrastructure — and this includes everything from aviation to oil and gas. These dedicated professionals don't just provide our clients with general financing solutions, they can also give advice on an industry level.

E: What industries and types of clients are you targeting?

MG: In terms of industries, we are sector agnostic. We are focusing on four client segments. We’re focussing on the private sector, government-related entities, financial institutions, and multinational companies operating in Egypt — and we hope to make a positive change by supporting them.

E: Are you going to focus more on project finance or trade finance?

MG: It will be a balancing act between long-term project finance and short-term trade finance, but by nature Egypt is a net importer, so trade finance is very important for any bank operating here.

E: We are here at the head office and your first branch at Cairo Festival City, when and where will we see new branches?

MG: We're going to start with just the Cairo Festival City branch, because we're really trying to be as digital as we can be. It's not about having a full network of branches, but making sure our clients are properly connected digitally to process transactions. We have our own ebanking platform called S2B — or ‘straight to bank’ — which provides a seamless process that is more convenient and secure for our clients. Digital transformation is at the heart and DNA of Standard Chartered, but that said, we plan to add another three or four corporate branches.

E: Looking down the road, what says you’ve had a good first year?

MG: Kicking off operations in Egypt is already a great milestone for us,it has been a long journey. One year from now, I think success will be to make sure that we are very well positioned with the four client segments I mentioned earlier.

As a multi-product bank, we want to make sure that we are supporting our clients on the financial side and on the financial advisory side, to help them manage their balance sheet and capital structure, and also manage their risks. We are more than just a transactional bank, we are looking to build long term and meaningful relationships with our clients.

E: How are you going to get off to a good start amid the foreign currency crisis, high interest rates, and trade hurdles?

MG: There is always a silver lining.I think that for us as an international bank, the first step is to support our multinational corporate clients operating in Egypt. Most of them are very keen to bank with Standard Chartered in Egypt.

There’s no perfect time to enter a country. If you look at what is happening geopolitically and what’s happening in the global economy, you could also say that this applies to any emerging market. We are not looking at Egypt in the next one or two years, we are looking at Egypt fifty years from today. We have a very strategic view on Egypt and we are here to stay. We have been in the Middle East for more than a hundred years, so we have seen a lot of economic cycles, ups and downs, and we still stay committed to our clients across our global network.

E: Do you have portfolio targets for the first year?

MG: To be honest, I am not really worried about numbers. Our key focus is to make sure our technological infrastructure is ready and that as many products as we can get ready are available for our clients in Egypt.

E: And what are your hiring plans for this year?

MG: If you ask me one lesson learned from all the projects we’ve done, it is that the key success factor is the human capital that we have at Standard Chartered. We hired the management team here and we will continue to build up the team between now and next year.

Technical expertise, know-how, and exposure are very critical, but equally important is people’s character, mindset, attitude, and resilience. We are looking for people who will never give up. If you encounter a hurdle, you think of a solution.

E: Any plans for acquisitions or partnerships this year?

MG: We do not have any plans for acquisitions on the cards, but definitely partnerships with key stakeholders like Egyptian Banks Company to better serve our clients. We are also looking for partnerships with fintech companies. We are open for any meaningful partnership that will deliver added value to our clients.

E: And lastly, what do you think is in store for the Egyptian economy and EGP in 2024?

MG: I think the government will take all the right measures to make sure it solves the FX issue. I believe if we get the right support from the IMF in combination with an accelerated privatization program, then we will hear some good news about the EGP.