CAIRO: Executives from Credit Agricole Egypt (CAE) will offer their expertise in three presentations over the course of the InterGas Conference and Exhibition this week. The bank, a silver sponsor for this year's event, kicked off the series of featured talks with the bank's managing director Henri Guillemin, who participated in a panel discussion on potential and development in the regional gas industry. He also addressed the impact of the economic crisis on Egypt's banking sector. Peter J. Goodall, managing director and head of natural resources, infrastructure and power at Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (Calyon), will also speak about project finance solutions for gas and oil projects in the current financial climate. Daily News Egypt caught up with Henri Guillemin on the sidelines of the conference to learn more about how Credit Agricole is supporting oil and gas development in the region. Daily News Egypt: How active is CAE the oil and gas industry? Henri Guillemin: Actually, it is our parent company, Calyon, that invests directly in the industry with local partners like Mansour and Maghraby Investment and Development Company in Egypt. Calyon is based in Paris and London and they are very involved in different projects around the region in over 45 sectors including oil and gas. We work with them to provide the local tools needed to provide financing and technical expertise. In this capacity the group has been active in the region for many years. We've undertaken projects ranging from resource-based lending for exploration to financing Aramco and Total refineries in the Gulf countries. In Egypt, we are also involved in financing the export of oil and gas from Egypt to France Why has CAE chosen to sponsor InterGas for the third year running? Sponsorship of InterGas is key for us. At CAE we believe that participating in industry events is crucial to gaining insight and understanding of issues that affect business, both from a local perspective as well as international. Our participation in InterGas V is important for us to further understand the needs of our clients and build relationships across all industries. What are some of CAE's goals for InterGas 2009? We are here to build relationships. At CAE we see our relationship with customers as a partnership and we try to be available to them so they can come to us for information on the latest developments in the industry. On the oil and gas level, I believe that it is important to promote development in this key sector in every way possible and to be present and available for our customers and discuss with them how we can respond to their financing needs at both the local and international levels. How are things looking in the banking sector currently? The banking sector has been the area least impacted by the financial crisis, and Egypt is one of the least impacted countries in the world so far. The government has guaranteed the banks in the event of any problems, so the sector is in good shape. While the portfolio level has seen some slowdown as has lending, there are no major credit issues and the system is liquid with room to finance the economy. What are the latest developments at CAE? We are in the process of introducing several new retail products including mobile banking and increased services at our ATM machines. We have also introduced the first package account in Egypt, where customers get a range of services through one account as well as a revolving line of credit and overdraft protection for continuing customers. What areas do you think will see growth over the next few years in Egypt's banking industry? It's a very small sector at present so there are many areas to expand into, especially in related sectors like mortgage financing and banking insurance.
