The decision of Egypt's central bank on Thursday to set a 9-year term limit for all banks' CEOs will force ten of the country's banking heads out of their positions, senior banking sources told Amwal Al Ghad. Chief executive officers of banks in Egypt, including those in the private sector, will have to depart after serving for than 15 years as part of the central bank's measures to modernise the sector and "inject new blood". The sources said the list would include 10 banking officials, notably Abdel Hamid Abu Mousa, who has been serving as Governor of the Bank Faisal Islamic Bank – Egypt for 15 years. In addition, Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, who has been leading Commercial International Bank (CIB) since 2002 as Chairman and Managing Director, and Ismail Hassan, who acts as the Chairman of Misr Iran Development Bank (MIDB) for around 15 years, would also join the list. Other banking officials are in the list, namely Fathy El-Sebai, Chairman of Egypt-based Housing and Development Bank (HDB); Hassan Abdalla, Managing Director of Arab African International Bank (AAIB); Hatem Sadek, Chairman of Bank Audi Egypt; and Ashraf El-Ghamrawy, CEO of Al Baraka Bank Egypt. Moreover, the list also encompasses MIDB chairman Ismail Hassan's two sons; Ahmed Ismail Hassan - Country CEO of National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) - Egypt; and Yasser Ismail Hassan - Managing Director of National Bank of Kuwait – Egypt. Another top banking official is in the list; Mohamed El Dib - Managing Director of Qatar National Bank Alahli (QNB Alahli), the sources concluded. The decision is the latest surprise by central bank governor Tarek Amer, as he surprised markets in recent weeks by removing dollar deposit and withdrawal caps, devaluing the currency by 13 percent in a single day, declaring a more flexible exchange rate policy and injecting hundreds of millions of dollars despite critically low reserves.
