(Bloomberg) Over the past year, the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi has explored a string of ambitious acquisitions in the international banking sector in an attempt to become a global financial powerhouse. None have panned out so far. Most Read from BloombergThese Are World’s Most Expensive Cities for High-Class LivingNoises Detected in Search for Titanic Sub as Oxygen DwindlesHedging Failure Exposes Private Equity to Interest-Rate SurgeWhat We Know About the Missing Titanic SubmersibleTitanic
The expansion is being driven by the ambition of the ruling Al Nahyan family to win more global heft for the emirate, as well as to find new avenues for its banking sector to grow.
December 11 2020
Egypt s usually very quiet (and very conservatively managed) banking industry has been in the headlines since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic as a wave of M&A activity has swept the sector.
Egypt has 38 active banks today, and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is adamant there will not be a 39th anytime soon. Instead, 20 years after leading a clean-up and consolidation of the sector in the wake of the non-performing loans scandal of the 1990s, Egypt s regulator has held the line: You want into the sector? Buy a new bank. There are no new licences coming.