UAE Central Bank Clears First Step in NBE's Purchase of Banque Misr Branches
The two Egyptian lenders say the transfer will keep services running for customers, though no price or completion date has been disclosed.
Tariq Benali Tariq Benali covers business and corporate news across the UAE and MENA for Anecdoted, tracking the deals, leadership moves and regulatory shifts behind the region's companies. tariq@anecdoted.com
The Central Bank of the UAE has cleared the first stage of National Bank of Egypt's plan to take over Banque Misr's branches in the Emirates. The two Egyptian lenders announced the step in a joint statement issued Tuesday.
What the regulator issued is a preliminary approval, not a finished deal. It lets the banks reorganise how they operate in the UAE, and it follows an agreement between them to restructure that presence under Emirati law and regulatory rules. In their joint remarks, the two banks said the proposed transaction would reshape their UAE banking footprint and deliver an orderly transfer of business.
The transaction is not complete. It still requires coordination with the UAE central bank and other relevant authorities, along with procedural and regulatory conditions the lenders have not spelled out. No value was disclosed. No timeline for finishing the transfer was given either.
Once the remaining approvals and steps are done, NBE would control Banque Misr's existing UAE branches, consolidating the Egyptian bank's position in the country. Both lenders describe the plan as a route to a more integrated approach to their international operations.
Customer handling sits at the centre of how they have presented it. The handover is meant to be managed so disruption stays minimal, banking services continue without a break, and the rights and interests of clients and everyone else dealing with the two banks are protected. Banque Misr and NBE said customers and other stakeholders would be safeguarded as the transfer proceeds, and that the rights of all parties would stay a priority throughout.
The timing matters. The approval lands weeks after FinCEN proposed cutting Banque Misr's UAE arm off from correspondent banking access to US financial institutions, over alleged Iranian shadow-banking links. FinCEN said on 28 August that it had identified 103 potential Iranian front companies, and that those entities moved about $1.8 billion through Banque Misr UAE accounts between January 2024 and June 2026. For Egyptian lenders, the standing of overseas branches with host regulators has become an operational question rather than a formality, and banks with international operations keep adjusting those footprints as rules and markets change.
Banque Misr credited the UAE central bank and other authorities with supporting its operations in the country. The restructuring, it said, reflects an effort to adapt its international banking presence to developments in overseas markets and to requirements it expects to meet. NBE said it looks ahead to a durable institutional and banking partnership with the Emirates and its regulators.
Hisham Okasha is chief executive of Banque Misr. A 2026 ranking of the region's top 100 chief executives places him 47th.
