AlexBank, a member of Intesa Sanpaolo Group, will not contribute to 'Long Live Egypt' fund, CEO Roberto Vercelli told reporters Sunday. The fund was originally initiated by Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to support and revive cash-strapped national economy. Vercelli clarified that he has no idea about who to run the fund or how the donations would be spent. Bank of Alexandria spends a portion of its annual profits on corporate social responsibility (CSR), he noted. Bank of Alexandria will not donate to finance the fund, the banking official asserted, attributing to not knowing any information about it. Moreover, Vercelli referred that the state-run banks have already made their contributions to 'Long Live Egypt' fund; conversely, the private banks manage donations differently through conducting studies to evaluate their financial capacity and determine the needs of the community. In late June, Egyptian Central Bank governor Hisham Ramez announced the opening of the bank account "037037" to contribute to the fund. Accordingly, large numbers of local and foreign banks operating in Egyptian market in addition to state-owned banks have contributed to the fund. The list of banks donated to finance the fund includes; HSBC, Qatar National Bank (QNB Al-Ahli), Emirates NBD, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr, and Banque Du Caire. Intesa Sanpaolo Group holds major shareholder in the Bank of Alexandria amounting to 70.25% of the bank shares since 2006. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has 9.75% of the bank's share; whereas the Egyptian Government holds 20%.
