Banking and Financial Sector

CAIRO, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Egypt's policy decisions last November to float the pound and subsequently raise interest rates have improved conditions for the banking sector but have slowed investment and dampened consumer loan demand, BLOM Bank Egypt's CEO told Reuters.

The trading floor of Egypt’s bourse erupted into cheers when the government suspended plans to charge a capital-gains tax.

The benchmark EGX 30 Index climbed 6.5 percent, the most since July 2013, to 8,798.17 at the close in Cairo. It's the world's best performer among 93 gauges tracked by Bloomberg. Commercial International Bank Egypt SAE, the country's biggest listed lender, advanced the most since December 2013.

The global financial crisis and Arab Spring uprisings all but decimated Egypt's economy. However, its banks survived this period with admirable resilience

Egypt-based investment firm Sawari Ventures expects to close its recently launched $50 million fund to new investors before year-end, its founder and chairman told Reuters on Wednesday.

We have all begun to notice the slow but steady recovery taking place in Egypt. The utter turmoil of the past three years should have destroyed Egypt, but it did not. Instead, Egypt avoided a major collapse and survived. How?

Heads of state and representatives of international organisations are among those who will participate in Egypt's economic conference beginning on Friday.

The biggest expansion of Egypt's Suez Canal since it opened in 1869 will boost syndicated loan deals in North Africa's biggest economy, according to the nation's largest publicly traded bank.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank PJSC (ADIB)'s Egyptian unit sees demand for Shariah-compliant finance picking up, expecting to complete deals for about 5 billion pounds ($699 million) in the next year.

From his office at the headquarters of the Commercial International Bank, Hisham Ezz el-Arab has a view onto Giza Zoo and beyond that, the Nile River, which cuts through Cairo's ancient center.

Egypt's banks were well insulated from the global financial crisis, but with continuing political instability since the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak, many are wondering just how long the country's banks can outpace its slowing economy