Cablegate: Central Bank of Egypt's New Board of Governors

VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHEG #3416 3401237
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061237Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7652
INFO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 0361

UNCLAS CAIRO 003416

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/RA AND EEB/IDF
USAID FOR ANE/MEA MCCLOUD AND DUNN
USTR FOR SAUMS
TREASURY FOR MATHIASON AND HIRSON
COMMERCE FOR 4520/ITA/ANESA/OBERG

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON PGOV EG
SUBJECT: CENTRAL BANK OF EGYPT'S NEW BOARD OF GOVERNORS

Sensitive but Unclassified. Please protect accordingly.

1. (U) On November 29, President Mubarak issued a presidential
decree renewing Farouk El Okdah for 4 years as Governor of the
Central Bank. Mubarak also issued a decree renewing Tarek Amer as
the first Deputy Governor and appointing Tarek Kandil as the second
Deputy Governor, both for 4 year terms.

2. (U) Following is the newly constituted Board of Governors,
appointed for 4 year terms, with the possibility of renewal:

Farouk El Okdah, Chairman

Tarek Amer, First Deputy Governor

Tarek Kandil, Second Deputy Governor

Hesham Ramez, Chairman, Suez Canal Bank (new appointment)

Ahmad Saad, Chairman, Capital Market Authority (new appointment)

Alaa Eddin Hassouna Essabea, Chairman, Belton Company for Mutual
Fund Management (new appointment)

Mohammad Fathy Saar, Representative, Ministry of Economic
Development (new appointment)

Momtaz Mohammad El Saeed, First Secretary, Ministry of Finance

Hassan Abdalla, Deputy Chairman and Managing Director, Arab African
International Bank

Abdel Salam Al-Anwar, Chairman and Managing Director, HSBC Egypt

Mohammad Barakat, Chairman, Banque Misr

Ziyad Bahaa El Din, former Chairman, General Authority for
Investment and Free Zones

Hazem Hassan, Bank Accounting and Auditing Expert

Mona Salah Eddin Zulfuqar, Legal Expert

Mahmoud Abd El-Fadeel, Economics Professor, Cairo University

3. (U) The following members of the previous Board of Governors
were not reappointed to the new board:

Mahmoud Abd El-Aziz, former CBE Deputy Governor

Hatem El-Qarnashawy, Economics Professor, American University in
Cairo

Mohammad Saleh Younes, CEO, Concord International Investment

Moawad Hasanain, CEO, Misr Insurance

Hany Sary Eddin, former Chairman, General Capital Market Authority

4. (SBU) Comment: The new board continues the tradition of having
the chairmen of both public and private banks serve on the CBE Board
of Governors. Along with the involvement of other GOE Cabinet
members on the board, the presence of bank chairmen gives the
appearance of conflict of interest and makes CBE look less
independent. The recent IMF Article IV staff report made reference
to this, as did the U.S. statement at the IMF Board meeting.
RICCIARDONE

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