Farouk El Okdah held prestigious position of C.bank governor for 10 years

Farouk El Okdah is considered one of the most prominent figures who held the prestigious position of governor of the Central Bank of Egypt from December 2003 until February 2013. He led the banking sector in dire conditions and harsh circumstances when most of its units became in unstable financial conditions amid a state of general recession and liquidity shortage.

Through his tenure over ten years he has led the banking sector to become a pioneer among other financial sectors which paved the way to its consecutive success over the years.

Okda was credited with helping stabilise the pound in a managed floating exchange rate that better reflected supply and demand. He laid the foundations on which the banking sector reform plan was established during years between 2004 and 2008.

These reforms plan began with the administrative and financial restructuring of banks operating in Egypt as well as forcible mergers of banks that faced a significant stumbling and erosion of capital, which led to reducing the number of banks to 39 banks at the time.

Okda’s restructure steps continued until it was able to develop the credit policy to limit the random credit granting which was prevailing during this period The reforms extended to find a radical solution to the problem of non- performing loans that led to the erosion of the banks’ financial positions.

Farouk El-Okda succeeded in establishing international standards to achieve financial soundness, such as Basel II; while enhancing the capital bases for the banks by increasing the capital adequacy ratio to 10% and setting a minimum capital requirement of EGP 500 million for banks operating in Egypt.

He also succeeded in increasing the volume of international reserves in Egypt from $14 billion in December 2003 to $36 billion in December 2010.

From January until December 2003 he was chairman and chief executive officer of the National Bank of Egypt. He acquired 19 years of banking experience, from 1983 until 2002, by working with Irving Trust Company in New York. This was later acquired by the Bank of New York, where he worked as assistant vice president for the Middle East division and as vice president and Africa district manager. El Okdah was also the managing director of the International Company for Leasing, IncoLease, from 1997 until 2002.

 He established IncoLease while working for the Bank of New York. In addition, El Okdah worked as an instructor in accounting and finance for the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania from 1978 until 1982. Also in 1978, he was nominated by the Wharton School to serve as a consultant for the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group.