IBS Journal October 2015


Citibank and Piraeus Bank leave Egypt; Emirates NBD completes BNP Paribas integration


Egypt’s major banking player, Commercial International Bank (CIB), has got approval from the Central Bank of Egypt to acquire Citibank Egypt’s retail banking and card businesses.


CIB is in the ‘process of taking execu-


tive procedures’ for the merger. This follows the initial signing of an agreement in June. As a long-standing user of Temenos’


T24 core banking system, CIB will integrate the new retail portfolio into this system. Citibank Egypt is part of American mul-


tinational Citigroup’s banking division. In October 2014, the group said it would ‘exit its consumer businesses in eleven markets’ – including Egypt. Citibank’s departure is part of a wider


exodus from the country. Piraeus Bank is selling its business


in Egypt to Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait (ABK), for $150 million. The deal sees the end of Greece-based Piraeus Bank’s ten-year pres- ence in the Egyptian market. ABK says the Egyptian Financial Super-


visory Authority (EFSA) has given final approval for the planned takeover. The EFSA approval was the last obsta-


cle. The bank has already got the nod from the Central Banks of Kuwait and Egypt. ABK is a long-standing customer of


Misys. It uses Misys’ Equation for core bank- ing, Fusioncapital Opics for its treasury and capital markets and Trade Innovation for trade finance. Piraeus, on the other hand, has been


using Fiserv’s Signature core system in Egypt for a number of years. The new deal could see a change in core systems at one or even both of the banks. Back in 2010, Piraeus did use Misys as


its primary supplier but decided to look for a new vendor due to ‘some issues’ it expe- rienced. Sotiris Kousouris, the bank’s head


of international IT, said at the time: ‘Everything that needed to be done had to go abroad and took a long time to be developed. And sometimes there were mis- understandings.’ After evaluating ‘a fair amount’ of


international offerings, the bank opted for Fiserv and its Signature core platform (formerly ICBS). It also purchased a range


of auxiliary applications from the vendor, such as data warehouse, Aperio branch support system and Teller branch and transaction processing solution, which together form the Fiserv Universal Bank- ing package. Meanwhile, Emirates NBD has recent-


ly completed its integration of the Egypt unit of France’s BNP Paribas. Infosys’ Finacle


underpins the operations of the merged entity (Emirates NBD is a major user of Fina- cle at home and abroad). The acquisition deal was inked in 2013 and came with a price tag of $500 million. As a result of the deal, Emirates NBD took on 200,000 retail customers and a network of 68 branches.


Antony Peyton IN BRIEF


Central and Eastern European banking group, Raiffeisen Bank International, is expanding its presence in the Czech Republic by taking over Citi’s local operations. The transaction is expected to complete in Q1 2016, subject to regulatory


approval. Raiffeisen’s Czech operation, which is the country’s fifth largest bank, will incorporate Citi’s retail and credit card business. Meanwhile, Citi will focus on corporate, commercial and institutional clients. The acquired business will be moved onto Infosys’ Finacle platform, used by


Raiffeisen in the Czech Republic (the project dates back to 2008; it initially had a group-wide remit but the roll-out was fraught with difficulties and eventually shrunk to the Czech Republic only). Raiffeisen’s digital banking subsidiary, ZUNO (soon to be sold off too), also runs


Finacle. ZUNO was set up in 2011 and is operational in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Meanwhile, the group is shedding its business elsewhere, as it plans to slash one


fifth of its business. It is understood that its subsidiaries in Poland and Slovenia are penned for a sell-off. —Tanya Andreasyan


Cairo, Egypt © Raduasandei, Wikipedia


© IBS Intelligence 2015


www.ibsintelligence.com


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