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Egypt’s AlexBank said on Sunday it had ended its first open day
after a week-long bank closure caused by political unrest with a net cash
surplus of 4 million Egyptian pounds.

Bankers had been bracing for chaos at the counters as panicky
Egyptians withdrew cash with fears that their deposits could be restricted
again.

“I will tell you something I think you will not believe, we have
a surplus of 4 million at the head office. I don’t know about the rest of the
branches yet. We have a positive balance,” AlexBank Chairman Mahmoud Abdel
Latif said by telephone.

He said his bank, which is controlled by Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo
SpA, had unofficially opened for companies for several days during the bank
closure to provide salaries and accept deposits.

“Because there are plenty of companies,especially in the food
business, that have been making tonnes of money and, as you know, everything
has been in cash in the last few days, people were flooded with cash and they
need to deposit,” he said.

He said his bank had provided about 14 million pounds for
salaries, but had received about 19 million pounds of cash.

Abdel Latif, who spent the day focused on the counters in the
lobby of his bank’s head branch, said that at least at his bank the feared run
on cash had not materialised. “It went extremely well, and I mean it. We had
more than 3,000 clients. The queues were very well organised, the people were
cooperating and our people were kind of speedy.”

The maximum withdrawal at his branch was 32,000 Egyptian pounds,
below the maximum withdrawal limit of 50,000 pounds set by the central bank, he
said.

About 90 percent of the dollar withdrawals were for settlements
under letters of credit in the normal course of business, and 10 percent were a
few individuals taking out somewhere between $5,000 to $10,000”,he said.

The central bank had set a limit of the equivalent of $10,000
for foreign currency cash withdrawals.

“I personally was downstairs, and the people who want the
dollars are all travelling. So they genuinely need the dollars or the foreign
currency for their trips,” he said.

He said the bank only opened about 20 branches as part of an
agreement with the central bank to move gradually and because banks were having
logistical problems getting employees to their offices.

REUTERS