Commercial International Bank – CIB was established in 1975 as a joint venture between National Bank of Egypt and the Chase Manhattan Bank. In 1993 CIB was listed in the local exchange and subsequently privatized. CIB’s shareholders as of November 2004 are as follows: Shareholding Individuals (all less than 1%) 25.3% Foreign Fund Managers 22.5% National Bank of Egypt 18.8% Bank of New York’s GDRs 17.4% Private Sector 5.6% Public Sector Companies 4.0% Government entities 3.2% IFC 3.2% Total 100% CIB’s core market segment has traditionally been large corporations and it is currently the largest private bank in Egypt. The bank has followed a good credit policy, tight cost control procedures, a thorough training program and employs high quality staff. With a strong brand name and market position, the Bank has successfully invested in other JVs ranging from insurance, corporate finance, leasing, asset management and brokerage activities and is now expanding into retail lending. CIB is the highest rated Egyptian bank by the biggest International Rating Agencies: Standard and Poor’s (S&P) assigned CIB a rating of BB+/Negative/B, Moody’s a rating of Ba2 and Capital Intelligence a rating of BB+/Negative/B. This rating represents the national (sovereign) ceiling for Egypt. First International Merchant Bank – FIMBank was established in 1994 by Kuwaiti Interests for Financial Investments (KIFFI) together with a group of institutional investors. The Bank is registered under the laws of the Republic of Malta and was granted its banking license in November 1994. The license enables FIMBank also to conduct full banking activities in all currencies, except the Maltese Lira. The bank is supervised by the Maltese Financial Services Authority (MFSA). Fitch Ratings assigned FIMBank a long-term FCY rating of BB with a stable outlook. As of June 2004 FIMBank’s shareholders are as follows: Shareholding Global Financial Holdings NV Kuwait 23.63% Kuwaiti Interests for Financial Investment KSC Kuwait 26.08% Mohammed Ibrahim Marafie Kuwait 5.30% Astrolabe General Trading Contracting Co. Kuwait 6.52% Kuwaiti Consulting and Investment Company KSC Kuwait 3.03% Mehdi Ouazzani Hassani Morocco 3.03% Fouad M T Alghanim 3.03% Bank of Valletta plc 9.46% Other private individual and corporate holdings 19.92% Total 100.00% FIMBank's core activities include international trade finance, including ship scraping finance, trade finance for banks and trading companies, and commercial lending to trade-related customers. While FIMBank operates from Malta, it has also promoted its services through a representative office in London and through regional business representatives in New York, Sao Paulo, Istanbul and Moscow.

The projected growth of the company’s operations estimates that the total capital required by the company will be $15 million. IFC’s shareholding of 20% will correspond to a total investment amount of $3 million. The disbursement of the equity investment will be staggered over a period of four years – to match the growth in volume of new business.

3.0 million (USD)

Product Line	IFC Investment (million USD)
Risk Management
Guarantee
Loan
Equity	3.0

* These investment figures are indicative

The company’s offices will be located in Cairo, Egypt.

IFC’s role in this project is as follows: - Help set up the first factoring company in Egypt. - Support the inclusion of factoring as an activity entitled to the benefits of Egypt’s Investment Law. - Identify FIMBank as a qualified international technical partner that is a good fit with CIB. - Working with both partners in approaching the Government for regulatory changes to ensure that the conditions for the success of the new enterprise are in place. - Play the role of a neutral party valued by both CIB and FIMBank. The developmental impact of this project is substantial since it will achieve the following: - establish Egypt’s first joint-venture factoring company; - provide new type of financing options to SMEs in Egypt; - transfer technology and modern management skills for the development of factoring as a stand-alone product line in Egypt; and - provide a strong demonstration effect for ventures in the financial sector and in the development of international trade finance practices in Egypt. By helping manage trade risks and provide value added services, factoring and forfaiting would enable Egyptian exporters, including SME’s, to undertake a larger volume of trade than would otherwise be the case.

This is a category C project according to IFC''s environmental and social review procedure. There will be minimal environmental and social impacts associated with this project. Therefore, no further environmental or social analysis is required.
Location of environmental documents in locally affected community