Roundup: Chemical Changing Status of Its Cairo Office

CAIRO - Chemical Bank will keep a representative office to conduct its operations in Cairo, said Imran Riffat, vice president and country manager of the New York bank.

He said management made that decision in January because the bank's license allowed it to do business only with entities outside Egypt, and that was no longer an advantage.

"We are the only foreign bank in Egypt that is in the free zone," Mr. Riffat told the Reuters news agency. "Our license forbids us to make a loan to any Egyptian company."

He said the bank's only options apart from switching to a representative office were to keep its old license or establish an Egyptian bank.

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