Britain's Standard Chartered Bank will open its first branch in Egypt by next September at maximum, Egyptian central bank governor Gamal Negm told local press on Monday. The first branch will be in Cairo, Negm said, adding that the second branch will be opened in Alexandria within 2023. The central bank official confirmed granting Standard Chartered a preliminary approval to operate in Egypt. Having obtained the foreign bank licence, Standard Chartered has paid all the fees required to open a branch in Egypt and submitted an operation strategy, Negm added. On Sunday evening, a local TV show Kelma Akhira announced Standard Chartered Bank obtained a preliminary approval to enter the Egyptian market. The UK bank has repeatedly tried in recent years to expand into the Egyptian market by taking over local banks, including the Egyptian unit of Greece's Piraeus Bank in late 2011.
