United Bank Keeps IR on Savings Unchanged

By: Taarek Refaat

CAIRO, Feb 16(SEE)- Chairman of the United Bank Ashraf Al-Qadi said on Saturday that the bank had decided to keep the bank's savings account unchanged, despite the central bank's (CBE) decision to cut interest rates.

The CBE has decided, unexpectedly for the first time in 11 months, to cut interest rates by 1 percent on deposits and lendings.

The Bank has set the new deposit's rate at respectively 15.75 percent and 16.75 percent for the lendings.

Al-Qadi said the bank's decision came to preserve the depositors' capital and attract new savings.

According to Al-Qadi, the bank managed to convert most of the fixed-income securities into variable ones, expecting the CBE to further cut interest rates.

He added that his decision to shift a considerable amount of fixed-income securities to variable ones came as part of a new strategy to reduce the burden of interest rates' cost on the bank.

"However, the bank still provides fixed-income securities, which is funded through the expansion of retail lending and credit cards," he said.