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Thursday, 1 April 2021

Banks get a break on concentration risk regs

Banks are getting another nine-month break from regulations designed to limit concentration risk in the industry, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said in a circular (pdf) yesterday. The CBE is now extending the waiver on implementing the regulations until the end of December, after saying last year it would give banks a breather on the regs until 12 April 2021.

Background: The regulations — which the CBE issued in 2019 — require commercial banks to set aside additional capital above the base requirement. The ratio for each bank depends on measurements of key concentration measures, which are either based on extending too much credit to borrowers in a single sector — known as sectoral concentration — or to a single borrower (individual concentration).

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