Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We hope the weekend treated you well — another week, another scorcher ahead. Still putting off that “mogamma3” trip? Today’s edition of The Enterprise Guide offers a full breakdown of which government services you can now handle online, which ones still require an in-person visit, and a few tips that might just come in handy. We also have a podcast recommendation for anyone who’s ever fallen down a Google rabbit hole and surfaced an hour later somewhere they didn’t expect. That and more.
Without further ado, the latest in the press…
THE BIG STORY TODAY-
HSBC has found a buyer in Emirates NBD Egypt for its retail business here, according to a statement from Emirates NBD, putting an end to months of speculation about HSBC’s retail future in Egypt after 44 years in the market. The pair reached a definitive agreement covering “the assets and liabilities of HSBC Egypt’s entire retail banking business,” the release read, without disclosing the number of retail accounts included in the sale.
No financial terms were disclosed, although HSBC said the transaction is expected to generate a pre-tax gain of around USD 300 mn for HSBC Group. The sale still needs regulatory sign-off before it can go through.
For now, nothing changes: HSBC said in a separate release that “there are no immediate changes for HSBC Egypt’s retail customers and their HSBC products and services will continue to operate as normal. The bank said it expects the transaction to complete in the second half of 2027.
KEY CONTEXT- It’s the second big move this summer for Emirates NBD, which is majority controlled by the Emirate of Dubai, after its USD 2.8 bn acquisition in June of a 60% stake in India’s RBL Bank.
BACKGROUND- The lender put its retail business in Egypt in what it calls “strategic review” last October, saying at the time that the process wouldn’t touch its commercial and institutional banking units. By February, HSBC was weighing at least four suitors for the portfolio. CIB said in a statement that it had clearance to start due diligence, while Emirates NBD and QNB Al Ahli were also said to be bidding.
REMEMBER- HSBC’s corporate and investment banking franchise isn’t going anywhere. HSBC Egypt’s CEO Todd Wilcox told us in February the bank is “squarely focused on the needs of our corporate and investment banking clients” in Egypt, pointing to roadshows and reverse roadshows connecting local issuers with investors in China, Singapore and the UK, and to an inflow of Chinese and Turkish manufacturers drawn by Egypt’s cost advantages.
The sale fits with HSBC’s global pullback from retail banking, which kicked off in mid-2023, when then-CFO Georges Elhedery put 12 countries on an exit watchlist — and accelerated after he became group CEO in 2024, refocusing the bank on corporate, institutional, and wealth banking in core markets. The bank has already fully or partially exited Canada, France, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Australia, and has announced or concluded exits in Argentina, Bahrain, and Bangladesh.
HSBC said on Friday that it will be closing all of its retail branches in Australia over the next 18 months.
We’ll have the full story — including what this means for HSBC Egypt’s clients — in tomorrow’s EnterpriseAM Egypt.
The EnterpriseAM Egypt Forum is back — and this year, we’re giving the full day to the one question on every business leader’s mind: What does AI actually mean for your company, your people, and your own job?
Leaders in New York, London, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore are asking the same things, and nobody has built a playbook that works yet. We’re all figuring it out in real time — and for Egypt, the stakes are unusually high.
Egypt could leapfrog a generation on the back of this technology — or watch AI hollow out the industries and jobs we can’t afford to lose. The leaders who get literate early will be the ones who get to decide which road we take.
Every session on stage answers one question: “So, what do I actually do about it?”
Join us on 5 October in Cairo. Seats are limited and attendance is by invitation only.
Request your invitation here.
THE BIG STORY ABROAD-
🌐 There’s no clear frontrunner on the global news agenda this afternoon, but among the stories topping today’s international headlines are, of course, the latest developments in the US-Iran situation. US President Donald Trump signaled a possible pause in US-Iran hostilities, stating that he’s canceling a planned strike on Iran if Tehran moves swiftly toward an agreement, adding that talks on reopening the Strait of Hormuz are progressing. Iran has yet to publicly acknowledge any change in its position.
The announcement followed reports that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had called for de-escalation. No fresh strikes were reported overnight, though Washington is still urging Americans in the Middle East to consider leaving the region amid ongoing security concerns.
^^Read more on: CNN, BBC, Reuters, and The Guardian.
MEANWHILE- The climate crisis shows no signs of slowing down as wildfires rage across Washington. A fast-moving wildfire forced thousands to evacuate in Spokane, Washington, on Saturday after strong winds and soaring temperatures drove the blaze across the Spokane River and toward residential neighborhoods. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, authorities said.
^^Read more on: CNN, Reuters, and the Associated Press.
ALSO- Following this past weekend’s unprecedented migrant surge into Ceuta — which saw most of the estimated 60k migrants return to Morocco after conditions in the Spanish enclave deteriorated rapidly — Madrid has installed a 500-meter sea barrier along the border with Morocco. Spanish officials also revised the humanitarian toll of the crisis, saying at least 67 migrants died during the crossing, including people who drowned and others killed in a stampede.
^^Read more on: Reuters, CNN, and the Associated Press.
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** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:
The Electricity Ministry hiked household electricity tariffs by an average of 12%, though the lowest consumption bracket will remain unchanged. The new structure keeps most residential users well below full cost recovery as the government tries to narrow the power sector’s funding gap without removing support from the lowest-consuming households;
A fresh USD 1.8 bn IMF tranche lands tomorrow, after the Executive Board signed off on the seventh review of the country’s USD 8 bn Extended Fund Facility and the second review under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility. The approval unlocks immediate access to the tranche, which should hit state coffers tomorrow;
The Oil Ministry is targeting 160 oil and gas wells this fiscal year, backed by at least USD 7.2 bn in planned investment from foreign partners, with some 70% of the program earmarked for development wells to raise output from existing fields.
☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- If you’re looking for some form of reprieve on the weather front following a particularly scorching weekend, keep looking. It’s going to be yet another hot day in the capital tomorrow, with the mercury set to peak at 38°C before dropping to an overnight low of 24°C. Still on the North Coast? Expect a reasonable high of 31°C and a low of 24°C, according to our favorite weather app.
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