Banque Misr has acquired the Central Bank's permission to open an office in Turkey, said Mohamed Barakat, the bank's chairman, on the sidelines of the annual Arab Banking Conference in Beirut, reported MENA. The step, which will be announced during the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Egypt on Sunday, aims at simplifying the commercial exchange between Egypt and Turkey in the coming period, added Barakat. The bank's chairman denied any political motivations behind the office's inauguration, saying that the board decided to take this step solely to increase the commercial transactions between the two countries. The bank's Vice President, Mohamed Abbas Fayed, had announced on Wednesday that the bank is seeking to get the CBE's approval to open the first Egyptian representation bureau in Turkey, he said to the Turkish Anadolu Agency that there is a growing interest from Turkish investors in the Egyptian market, and that it was normal for Egyptian banks to approach them and establish partnerships to launch new projects in Egypt. Fayed added that Banque Misr is trying to promote trade between Egypt and Turkey and to meet the needs of investors from both sides. The bank has strong foreign representation and banking units in the European Union, Gulf Area and Africa. The liaison between business and the presidency, Hassan Malek, expected the Turkish investments in Egypt to grow from $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion in 2013, in a statement to Anadolu Agency Tuesday. The Egyptian bank is currently studying increasing its AED 180 million capital in the United Arab Emirates as a part of an integral plan to raise its performance in the Emirati market, after opening two new branches in Lebanon last September.
