Egypt: Bank consolidation takes new turn

Posters of president Hosni Mubarak filled Cairo last month as campaigning for Egypt’s first ever multi-candidate presidential election in early September gathered pace. Mubarak has expressed interest in seeing further privatization of the country’s largest banks

Société Générale’s mid-summer swoop to take control of the state’s remaining shares in Misr International Bank (MIBank) showed that business confidence remains strong in Egypt’s latest phase of reforms, less than a month before an unusual contested presidential election and only weeks after terrorist attacks in Sharm el-Sheikh.