STATE-OWNED BANKS are making a move on FX bureaux. The National Bank of Egypt plans to open its own FX officers, a move meant to deal a blow to trading on the parallel market, NBE’s Deputy Chairman Mahmoud Montasser tells Al Ahram. An initial trial phase will see the bank open bureaus in the Greater Cairo before being rolled out nationwide, said Montasser. The move is hoped to channel FX to the banking system through “legal means” and end speculative currency trading, said Montasser. The move heralds the next step in the government’s policy to combat the parallel market by opening new government-sanctioned exchanges to fill the void left off from the shuttering of 57 FX bureaus by the CBE.