Egypt’s bankers start to get the taste for change

IT’S DIFFERENT THIS time. Egypt’s banking sector is at last taking the tough medicine needed to lift it from its moribund past into a more dynamic future.

At least that is the view of public officials, analysts and bank chiefs themselves. The consensus is that the banks no longer resemble money market funds predominantly buying government securities, or, in some cases, speculative investment vehicles taking punts on real estate. Now they are acting more like, well, banks.