On IPOs and the “Egypt discount”, with MNT-Halan’s Mounir Nakhla

You suggested earlier that effectively, not exactly your words, any monkey can write a loan, but the professionals are the ones who can bring it back in, uh, which sort of opens the question of risk.

And we saw earlier this summer, uh, Hesham EzEldin, the CEO at CIB, warning that, uh, weak credit policies at non-bank lenders could start a fire in the formal banking system, and it seemed very much that the central bank tightened funding rules in response to that.

How serious is the risk? That Hesham identified in your view

I think it was overstated.

If you compare non-banking financial institutions' risk profile for consumer finance and you compare those with banks' credit card risk numbers, same or m- banks might be worse.

So I think it's a bit, uh, unfounded.

However, however, the decree that came out from the Central Bank of Egypt had to be done.

So I think it is the right move.

It is the job of the Central Bank of Egypt to protect the banking system.

And banks should allow for risk-weighted averages.

That's not, not a problem.

They should consider that if we've offloaded that inherently there is also a risk to the company, so the single obligor is totally legitimate.

Mm-hmm.

And I think balance sheets of banks allow to continue offloading and securitizing and bilateral offloading despite these regulations.

And third, and most importantly, the CB said, "Banks, we want a policy.

Just every bank should have a policy."

Yeah.

"Is, is that too much to ask?"

Show me that you've thought it through.

Show me, show me that you've thought it through.

So...

And I think the real underlying risk comes from the ultimate borrower.

If people are repaying and we are collecting, and there is no systemic risk, I think things should be fine.

The big difference between NBFIs and banks is that NBFIs lend from their equity-

Mm-hmm