Banking and business opportunities in Egypt – an underrated, non-crs country.
I decided to publish this thread based on @Martin Everson suggestion. also I would like to invite him here to share his experience in Egypt with all of us, so we could learn Something from him.
Now, Back to the main topic. I learnt about Egypt from one of my Egyptian friends who I worked with in Dubai. For him it was his secret formula to a great business and banking opportunities not only for Egyptians but for foreigners no matter their nationalities.
And he told me about this amazing country that withstood the test of time. And he shared with me his knowledge and what his country has to offer.
I started this thread as I would like to share my knowledge about investment/banking in Egypt. I wouldn’t share most of what I know, as this would take ages, but I would share enough so that you have a head start in terms of banking and investing in Egypt. Also, this will be a long a*s thread so please bear with me, I’m not saying that Egypt is the Solution to all problems, but I promise you that by the end of this thread you will find lots of opportunities that you might not know before or even heard of. So, let’s begin, shall we?
Banking in egypt
Opening a bank account in Egypt is easy for both personal and corporate accounts but most banks will require resident permits like in Singapore but the difference is that laws in Egypt are more lenient.
For example there are lots of ways to overcome the residency problem, like:
- The most obvious one is getting the resident permit and once you get it you don’t have to live in Egypt to keep it, you just have to visit the country once a year to maintain it. For the type of residence permit you should get…The cheapest, fastest and most straight forward residence permit is the one you get through investing or creating a LLC company. You have to deposit a 500,000 EGP (about 32,000 USD), and you get the residency for one year and you can renew it as much as you like without any problem as long as the company’s capital remain higher than 4000 USD.
- You can ignore all of the above and open a bank account through POA (power of attorney) or a local nominee director.
- Introducers who knows the banks’ managers and will help you get it done under a week or so.
My experience: I’ve done it through the introducer route. The banks that I ended up with are HSBC, CIB, alex bank and NBE.
The required documents for personal accounts for me were:
- my passport and 4 photos of me, utility bill and source of funds.
The required documents for corporate accounts for me were:
Commercial register, certificate of incorporation, business address, type of business activity and IDs of the company director and shareholders (if they exist). Additional documents may be required but this depends on the type of business. Don’t worry though, most of the time your corporate bank account will be opened within 7 days.
NOTE: Egypt is a cash based society and has a big unregulated free-ish market!!. Let your imagination run wild.
Also, nobody asks for source of funds in Egypt besides banks. You can buy as much gold/cars/luxury assets/property as you like (although as a foreigner you’re limited to the amount of property you can buy but you could overcome this by buying properties through companies). And when it comes to banks the source of funds requirement is extremely lax. For example: you can buy any asset in Egypt with cash or whatever and then sell it and deposit the money into the bank. When the bank ask about the source of funds (they don’t ask often) you could show them the receipts or the contract of the asset you sold and that’s it, no more questions asked! Don’t stress it though as most of the time, things run very smoothly.
The best banks in Egypt in no particular order are:
1- NBE (national bank of egypt)
2- Emirates NBD
3- CIB
4- Abu Dhabi Islamic bank
5- Arab African international bank
6- HSBC
7- Arab bank
8- Citi bank (more of a wealth management subsidiary)
9- Alex bank
10- QNB
Payment processors also exist in Egypt. I didn’t need one personally but some of my friends who have Egyptian companies use them and cannot be more satisfied. Here are some of them who work with Egyptian companies:
- Tap (easiest to open as far as I heard, very smooth and has stripe like interface)
- Payfort
- Paytabs
- My fatoorah
- Paypal (works in Egypt, but you may have issues with local bank accounts, so it’s best to link an EMI - like payoneer or transferwise - to your paypal account and then transfer the funds from your EMI to your local EG bank account)
Investing and company formations in Egypt:
Now this where the fun really begins.
Did you know that you could have a tax free company registered in Egypt with no import/export tariffs!
This is done by creating a free zone company in Egypt, but it’s better than the free zone ones that exist in the UAE, as most banks will work with Egyptian free zone companies unlike their UAE counterparts.
Free zones in Egypt are considered a special investment system governed by the provisions of Investment Law No. 72 of 2017 and its Executive Regulations, which enforcement is overseen by the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI)
So, What is a Free Zone?
A free zone is part of the State's territory, located within its borders, which falls under the rule of the state administration. Free zones are governed by special provisions on taxation, customs and finance.
Authorized Activities in Free Zones All types of investment activities are allowed to be exercised inside free zones in accordance with the policy set by GAFI, mainly export-oriented industries, with the exception of the following:
- Weapons, ammunition, explosives and any industry relating to national security.
- Wine and alcoholic beverages.
- Fertilizers.
- Manufacturing of iron and steel.
- Petroleum refining.
- Liquefaction, manufacture and transport of natural gas
- Energy-intensive industries.
Advantages, Guarantees, and Exemptions Granted to Projects
- Free transfer of invested capital and profits abroad.
- Freedom to select the field of investment and the legal form of projects.
- ֺFree pricing of products and profit margin.
- There are no minimum or maximum limits for invested capital (for public free zone projects only).
- No restrictions with regards to the nationality of the capital's owner, where a foreign investor can be the sole owner of the capital or can have any share in the investment (excluding projects set up in Sinai).
- The ability to operate for others in order to maximize exploitation of the project's potential (in accordance with the rules adopted by GAFI in this regard)
- Providing foreign investors with residency facilities.
- Granting foreign workers residence permits as requested by the project.
- Legal action may not be initiated against projects operating in free zones until GAFI is first consulted. ֺ
- Projects and establishments may not be nationalized or confiscated. ֺ
- No sequestration may take place over projects according to administrative decisions, nor may their funds be seized, frozen or confiscated by any other means except through judicial proceedings.
- Exemptions ֺ
- All capital assets and production requirements for carrying out the project activities (excluding passenger cars) are exempt from custom duties, sales taxes and any other taxes throughout the project period, even if the nature of the activity necessitates its temporary presence outside the free zone.
- The project's exports and imports are exempt from custom duties and taxes, whether sales taxes or other taxes or fees applicable within the country.
- The project and its profits are not subject to any taxation or customs laws or legislations applicable in the country throughout the project period. ֺ
- Project imports and exports are not be subject to customs procedures or regular importation rules applicable in the country. ֺ
- Project supplies from the local market are exempt from VAT. ֺ
- Goods in transit, with a fixed destination, are exempt from the payment of any fees imposed on goods in transit according to the following conditions: A- The project falls under the custom office's jurisdiction. B- The final destination of the goods is determined in the bill of lading and the invoice.
- Local components of goods produced by free zone projects are exempt from custom duties in case of sale in the local market (inside the country).
Private Free Zones
A unique establishment/system that represents only one independent project or more than one project exercising similar activities, as required (based on nature of the activities). It is imperative to be located outside the public free zone vicinity, due to the economics of the project, and the nature of its activities, which renders it essential to be located in specific places to benefit from the advantages offered by this site, in terms of proximity to raw material sources, production requirements, export markets or required labor, for integration with nearby projects, or due to proximity to a particular port or road.
The private free zone site may be owned or rented by the investor.
For more Information Press here or here
Public Free Zones
There are currently 9 public free zones across Egypt, well equipped with the necessary facilities and infrastructure for the operation and execution of projects (roads - electricity - sewerage stations - water networks - telecommunications), in addition to an integrated customs unit, a police station for ports’ security maintenance, and a security unit in each zone, operating 24 hours a day.
The locations of free zones were selected to be situated in main cities with distinctive locations, sufficient labor and other facilities and capabilities that support both the zone itself and nearby maritime ports and airports.
Investment areas are allocated based on an annual rent system where the rate is determined per square meter, depending on the type of activity of the project (US$ 5 for industrial activities – US$ 10 for service and storage activities).
For more Information Press here or here
For more information about free zones and its investment opportunities Press Here
That’s it for now, If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me and I will try my best to answer your questions.
Cheers
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let's hope 
