DOHA: QNB Group, under its new expansion plan to enter into the Egyptian banking sector, has announced to acquire a majority stake (over 97 percent) in Egypt’s NSGB bank, a press statement said yesterday.
Ali Shareef Al Emadi, QNB Group Chief Executive Officer presented an overall vision of the Group’s future plans to cooperate with NSGB team to continue its sustainable growth over the coming years. He also highlighted QNB Group’s new strategy to enter into the Egyptian banking sector through buying a share of 97.1 percent of NSGB.
Al Emadi expressed his satisfaction in NSGB joining QNB Group stating that this move represents the largest acquisition in the financial sector in the Middle East and falls in line with the Group’s strategy to expand in selected markets across the region.
He stated that Egypt has always been one of the top countries in the Group’s expansion plans, due to the strategic importance of the Egyptian market and its dynamic role that complements the Group’s aim to be the leading bank in the Mena region.
He added that the strong financial position that NSGB enjoys, its network of branches across the country, and the capable and highly qualified staff, all together represent an opportunity to help us achieve those plans.
Concerning the Group’s plans in the coming period, Al Emadi said the Group will work closely with the NSGB staff to best implement the bank’s strategy, increase its activities in the Egyptian market, and serve different economic sectors which will contribute to Egypt’s economic growth.
He asserted that NSGB has promising opportunities for expansion in the Egyptian market through increasing its network of branches and ATMs across different governorates and could see a doubling the number of the network during the coming five years.
This will require increasing the number of staff and providing them with training programmes as part of QNB Group policy to recruit talented staff and develop their capabilities.
He added the team working at NSGB is more than capable of managing the bank’s operations to achieve QNB’s strategy to increase its presence in the Egyptian market.
There will also be a close cooperation between the teams of QNB and NSGB in several areas including information technology, operation, risk management, and corporate communications.
Building on its highly developed e-banking technology, QNB seeks to share its technological capacities with NSGB to offer safe, advanced e-banking services to its clients through different channels including the Internet and smartphones.
Providing NSGB’s retail and corporate clients with more channels to conduct their banking services will give the bank a competitive edge that would strengthen its position in the Egyptian market.
The Peninsula
