FEB Establishment

 ·         “Conference Des Banque” was the first entity established in 1936 to strengthen the relation between banks in Egypt and to study the banking sector’s regulations. One of its major achievements was unifying the bank’s fees. In 1954, the entity name was changed into the Federation of the Egyptian Banks (FEB). The FEB executive regulations were reviewed when the Banking and Credit Law 163/1957 was issued, and were amended according to article 31 of the Law- that states that banks could establish federation(s) with executive regulations approved by the CBE. These amendments were to help the CBE implement credit and monetary policies serving the welfare of the country.

·          When the Nationalization Decree was issued in 1961, which included all Egyptian banks, the Egyptian General Association for Banks was established to supervise the economic sectors’ activities. The new Association then decided to suspend the FEB operations in May 1962 claiming that both entities play the same role.    

·          In 1964 the decree 1446 was issued abolishing the Egyptian General Association for Banks and assigning the CBE its tasks, therefore, CBE established the Technical Banking Committee to represent all commercial and specialized public sector banks.

·         Then Law 43/1974 was issued and had included a new system for the Arab and foreign investment and free zones. This system allowed for the establishment of new banks and branches of foreign banks in Egypt aimed at funding projects and launching international stock and monetary market in the country. As a result, the number of banks operating in Egypt increased; the thing that urged officials to call for the re-establishment of a federation to represent these banks, with the same FEB previous vision and mission.

·          By the beginning of 1981, a committee was formed to include representatives from the CBE and major banks. This committee submitted a new system for the FEB, which was approved in May 1981 and a new Central Association for Working Banks in Egypt -the Federation of the Egyptian Banks- was officially established.  

·         The new Federation complied with both: Law 32/1964 for private associations and institutions and its executive regulation, and the article 31 of Law 163/1957. The FEB head office was located in 26 Al Batal Ahmed A.Aziz in Dokki, Greater Cairo.

·         The regulations of the Association was also amended allowing representatives of foreign banks operating in Egypt to participate as supervisors to improve the level of banking services in Egypt.

·         The article 31 of Law 37/1992 then was issued amending the Banking and Credit Law and the CBE Law. The article stated that banks, which comply with these Laws, have the right to establish a federation. It also confirmed that the executive regulations of the federation should be issued by the Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade and approved by the CBE.

·         On June 3, 1998, the Minister issued decree No. 178/1998 to establish the Federation of Egyptian Banks (FEB) as a professional entity that abide the international standards for banking profession. The Central Association for Working Banks in Egypt was accordingly abolished and the FEB’s first General Assembly was held on November 18, 1998.

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·         Later, Article 44 of Law 88/2003 was issued- according to the Laws of CBE, Banking System, and Monetary- stating that the CBE has to issue the executive regulations for the federation established to include the operating banks in Egypt. It added that the Federation is considered an independent entity and would have a separate registry book at the CBE. It also stated that the establishment decree and the new FEB executive regulations should be published in the official newspaper at the expense of the FEB. The current FEB enjoys full independence, and must readjust its situation according to clause 1 of the Law within 3 months of implementation.

·         The FEB’s extraordinary General Assembly decided to amend some articles of the executive regulations on August 24, 2003 to agree with Law 88/2003. The CBE approved these amendments on February 17, 2004 and the executive regulations were published in the official newspaper “Al Waqaie Al Masryia” on May 31, 2004.

·         FEB has 39 banks as main members in addition to one associate member, the Arab International Bank.