NBE, Banque Misr Keep 3-Year Certificate Unchanged at 12%

Following the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) decision to cut interest rates, NBE and Banque Misr kept the return on the 3-year platinum saving certificates unchanged, while the United Bank raised it by 1.5%.

Some banks operating in the Egyptian market held an assets and liabilities” committee during the past week, and while some of them responded to the central bank’s cut of  0.5%, such as the Export Development Bank (EBE) and the Suez Canal Bank, NBE kept the rate unchanged and sufficed with canceling the 15% certificate. On the other hand, the United Bank raised the rates of return for certificates.

The banks meetings came after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank decided, in its meeting last Thursday, to reduce the rate of deposit and lending overnight rates and the rate of the main operation of the central bank by 50 basis points to reach 8.75%, 9.75% and 9.25%, respectively. The credit and discount rates were also reduced by 50 basis points to 9.25%.

On his part, Yehia Aboul-Fotouh, NBE Deputy Chairman confirmed that the bank decided to keep the interest of the 3-year platinum certificate unchanged at 12.25% for the quarterly return, and 12% for the monthly return.

Ihab Al-Durra, head of the retail banking at Banque Misr said that the bank decided to keep the return on the "Top" 3-year certificate at 12%, distributed monthly, while keeping other rates unchanged.

On the other hand, Ashraf  El-Kady Chairman of The United Bank said that the bank is waiting for the CBE's approval to raise the return on the triple certificate by 1.5% to 11.75% for the quarterly return and 11.5% for the annually, stressing that this comes in line with market rates of return.