First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the largest bank in the United Arab Emirates, announced on Sunday it has obtained a custody licence in Egypt from market regulator, Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA). According to FAB's statement, the license would facilitate membership of the country's central securities depositary, Misr for Central Clearing, Depository and Registry (MCDR), providing the integral function of settlement and clearing of trades executed on the Egyptian stock exchange (EGX). This follows FAB's recent definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent of Bank Audi Egypt, including its local custody franchise, which will supplement FAB's custody services expansion in Egypt. Post-acquisition, FAB is expected to be one of the largest foreign banks in Egypt by total assets with pro-forma total assets of more than 120 billion Egyptian pounds ($8.1 billion). "FAB has operated in Egypt since 1975 and the addition of Egypt custody services further emphasises our commitment to the market." Kashif Darr, FAB's managing director and head of securities services, said. "We will offer domestic investors a full range of world class post-trade solutions, with our direct MCDR connectivity at its core. We will also intermediate international capital flows into this strategic market, as part of our regional direct custody platform." Egypt is the fourth direct custody market FAB has added to its Middle East proprietary network in 2020, which now currently UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon and Egypt, with Kuwait and Qatar to follow.
