Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday appointed Hassan Abdalla as acting governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), succeeding Tarek Amer, who resigned on Wednesday.
Al-Sisi met with Abdalla and stressed the need to develop monetary policy in line with ongoing global developments, diversify foreign exchange sources and create an attractive investment climate.
Abdalla was President of United Media Services and before that CEO and Vice President of the Arab African International Bank (AAIB).
Abdalla, born August 1960, received a Bachelor of Business Administration from American University in 1982 and a Master of Business Administration from the same university in 1992.
He started his career in 1982 at AAIB, the first multinational bank in Egypt, working in various sectors including money and futures markets.
In 1988, Abdalla transferred to AAIB’s New York City office to manage the treasury portfolio and hedging policies for a year before returning to Cairo. In 1994 he was promoted to Assistant General Manager.
Abdalla served as Director General of AAIB from 1999 to 2002. He was then appointed Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of the bank. During this period, the entire banking sector experienced great financial suffering and difficulties due to bad debts and weak infrastructure, prompting the 2003 banking reform plan to be launched.
He played a key role in the approximately EGP 240 million merger of Misr America International Bank and Arab African Bank, which was announced in May 2005 as the first private sector experience of its kind in Egypt. It contributed to the strengthening of the AAIB and its dissemination in the local banking market.
After the 10-year acquisition, Abdullah managed to get the bank to acquire Canadian Bank of Nova Scotia’s portfolio in Egypt in 2015.
Abdalla has served on the boards of several companies including the Institute of International Finance, Emerging Markets Advisory Council (EMAC), Central Bank of Egypt, Egyptian Exchange, Ghabbour Auto, Coca-Cola, Endeavor Egypt, Telecom Egypt and Orascom Construction.
He was also a faculty member at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and a member of the Strategic Advisory Board at AUC’s College of Business Administration.
The new CBE governor will face many difficult acts, to which must be added good coordination between fiscal and monetary policy, exchange and interest rates, and controlling inflation.
These files also include negotiations with the International Monetary Fund on financial reforms and solving import problems, meeting production needs, maintaining and increasing foreign exchange reserves, and meeting external obligations.
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