The Grievance Committee at the Financial Regulatory Authority's decision to reject Beltone Financial's, the Egyptian investment bank owned by billionaire Naguib Sawiris, complaint contained incorrect facts and conclusions and did not respond to the firm's defence, Sawiris said on Monday. “Unfortunately, there was a chance for the authority to back away from these wrong procedures, which would affect the confidence in the Egyptian stock exchange and in the position of the Financial Supervisory Authority, as everyone knows that the chairman of the supervisory body has got personal reasons for these actions in light of a case raised personally by Beltone," Sawiris told Egypt Today. Sawiris pointed out that Beltone will continue to carry out all the legal procedures guaranteed by law to confirm the validity of all procedures followed by the company, confirming that it followed the same rules that were customary in all previous proposals in the absence of issuing any rules or regulations. He added that the company will resort to appealing this decision to the committees and the competent authorities. The Appeals Committee of the Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) rejected Beltone Financial Holding's grievances against the decision to suspend the company from covering and promoting initial public offerings (IPOs) for six months and to raising its insurance value to 50 million pounds. The Grievance Committee of the Commission decided to accept Beltone's grievances' form and reject its subject. Beltone Financial is awaiting the decision of the Administrative Court in January in the lawsuit filed for the same decision. In November, FRA decided to charge Beltone Financial with raising the insurance value to the Authority to 50 million pounds, after accusing Beltone of irregularities in the IPO procedure of Sarwa Capital. The board of FRA decided on November 1 to suspend Beltone from covering and promoting initial public offerings (IPOs) for a six-month period. Beltone commented on the decision by saying that FRA's decisions are surprising and that the company is yet to be informed of reasons for their issuance and their stipulations. It added that its subsidiary, Beltone Securities Brokerage, continues to conduct normal business operations, adding that all of the group's companies continue to operate in line with the aforementioned Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) decision. Beltone Financial operates within the diversified financial sector focusing on investment banking & brokerage. It has 20 subsidiaries operating across Egypt, Lebanon and China. Beltone Financial is based in Cairo, Egypt and was established in May 2006.
