National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr open over the holiday's to sell 25% saving certificates

National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Banque Misr (BM) opened their branches nationwide over the week end and through Sunday holidays to sell their new one-year maturity saving certificates with a 25 percent yield to the public.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said that banks operating in Egypt will be closed on Sunday, 8 January 2023, on the occasion of the Coptic Christmas.

Banks will reopen on Monday, 9 January, according to an official statement.

NBE announced on Thursday that 140 of its branches nationwide will be opened on both Friday (from 2 PM to 6 PM) and on Sunday (from 9 AM to 3 PM). The bank will only serve clients interested in buying the new saving certificates and those who want to exchange foreign currencies.

BM also announced that 126 of its branches will be opened on both days during the same time for the same purposes.

Friday is an official weekend holiday in Egypt; whereas Sunday is a paid holiday for both the public and private sector on the occasion of Coptic Orthodox Christmas which falls on 7 January.

Both State-owned banks announced on Wednesday that they were issuing new one-year maturity saving certificates with a 25 percent yield after one year, the highest yield on record in Egypt so far.

The new certificates are also available at a 22.5 percent yield for monthly disbursement.

Since the announcement of the new certificates, many clients reported that their bank applications crashed as they attempted to acquire the new certificates online.

Speaking to the media, BM CEO Mohamed El-Eterby said on Thursday that the certificates will be available for clients for only a limited time – three weeks at most. He added that clients have bought EGP 24 billion worth of certificates only 48 hours