During 2013, Ahli United Bank (AUB) has opened letters of credit in the amount of US $ 2 billion in favor of the main government wheat buying entity General Authority For Supply Commodities (GASC) as well as for some food companies. AUB had approved to open letters of credit for GASC and food firms with the aim of importing food products and commodities within 2013. Food sector has captured the lion's share of AUB's total letters of credit opened during 2013, followed by the Oil sector, according to a senior source from the bank told Amwal Al Ghad on Monday. AUB had opened letters of credits totaled US $ one billion in favor of the oil sector during the current year. The source added that AUB has supported multiple vital sectors such as; foodstuff, medicine and petroleum products, noting that the bank has managed to allure prominent names in the trade market. This comes as providing finance for the foreign trade sector shall help in strengthening the marketing potentials through opening new markets for local products. Moreover, the sourced further stated that the duration of AUB's short-term letters of credit ranges between 3 to 6 months, saying the bank succeeded in opening more letters of credit, letters of guarantee as well as documentary collections (D/Cs). AUB's total volume of foreign transactions hit around EGP 10 billion by the end of first half of 2013, the source noted, adding that the bank is seeking to register total volume of foreign transactions worth EGP 20 billion by end of the current year. By the end of 2012, AUB had attained total volume of foreign transactions around EGP 13.7 billion, moved up by EGP 10.1 billion against EGP 3.6 billion by the end of 2011.
