The National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Banque Misr newly launched saving certificates with 15 percent annual yields have garnered 6.2 billion Egyptian pounds in two days. The two banks started on Sunday issuing new savings certificates with an annual return of 17 percent and 15 percent. According to Hisham Okasha, NBE has attracted 4.5 billion Egyptian pounds of the new high yields certificates. While Mohamed El Etreby said that the newly launched certificates have collected 1.7 billion pounds. The two banks limited the certificate purchase to electronic channels to ensure the safety of customers and employees amid the spread of the Coronavirus. Banque Misr said that for new customers, transfers can be made from any bank the client deals with through providing the bank account number. Baqnue Misr added that the aim of transfers is purchasing the "Ibn Masr" certificates and attaching the national ID and mobile number, as no transfers will be accepted without the required data. The client will then be sent a message the next day to confirm the purchase. Banque Misr stressed that it will not accept any cash deposits to purchase these certificates, therefore, there is no need for customers to go to the branches. As for NBE, it explained that in the case of clients going to branches to buy a new certificate, the percentage of clients allowed to be present at a branch will not exceed 50% of the seat capacity.
