History/Timeline

With a continuous presence in Egypt since 1975, Citi has been actively involved in major local financings and has facilitated key capital market transactions on behalf of institutional clients. In addition, the bank serves multinationals and global investor clients active in the Egyptian market, and fully supports their banking, investment and credit requirements.

In addition, Citi has been an active player in the local Egyptian community with a particular interest in supporting financial literacy, education, microfinance and community development with more than 500,000 USD grants extended in the past few years to NGOs such as Injaz Al-Arab and AMIDEAST.

• 1955: Citi opened a branch in Cairo with the aim of facilitating trade between Egypt and the United States.
• 1961: Citi closed its branch and sold its operations to the National Bank of Egypt.
• 1974: Citi opened a representative office in Cairo.
• 1975: Citi’s representative office gained full branch status.
• 1993: Citi received its license to operate in local currency, a major milestone, which allowed for the gradual development of a full-fledged Corporate and Investment Banking business that caters to corporate customers and financial institutions, providing the full range of Transaction Services, Corporate Finance and Treasury solutions.
• 1995: Citi opened a special foreign currency branch in Cairo to handle international transactions and help Egyptians harness Citibank’s access to global markets.1995: Citi opened a special foreign currency branch in Cairo to handle international transactions and help Egyptians harness Citibank’s access to global markets.
• 1996: Citi became the first private (vs. state-owned) bank to issue a bond, and one of the few private companies to do so since the 1960s, thus helping to grow local capital markets.
• 1998: Citi became only the second US bank to enter the retail banking business in Egypt.
• 1999: the bank bolstered its retail operations with seven new branches, and introduced the first unsecured credit card to the market
• 2002: Citi introduced Mastercard to Egypt.
• 2003: Citi partnered with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation to set up a $60 million facility to help Egyptian importers get financing from local banks.
• 2003: The Egyptian Central Bank licensed Citi to operate as primary dealer on T-bonds and T-bills.
• 2015: Citi signed an agreement with Commercial International Bank (CIB) to sell its retail banking and cards businesses in Egypt. Approximately 900 full time consumer banking and contract employees, eight Citi branches and the ATM network in Egypt were transferred to CIB upon closing.
• 2015: Citi celebrated its 40th anniversary in Egypt.