Good afternoon, wonderful people — and mabrouk for making it through a bear of a week.

THE BIG STORY TODAY- EFG Hermes is now officially a universal bank: Our friends at EFG Hermes informed shareholders today that the firm has finalized its acquisition of a 51% stake in the Arab Investment Bank (aiBank), “marking a strategic entry into the fast-growing and solid Egyptian commercial banking sector” and completing its transformation into a universal bank in Egypt, EFG said in a statement (pdf) today. EFG Hermes Holding will now assume control of aiBank in partnership with the Sovereign Fund of Egypt’s TSFE Financial Services and Fintech Subfund, which is acquiring a 25% stake. The state-owned National Investment Bank will retain a 24% stake of aiBank post-transaction, having previously held 91.4%.

What do we mean when we say universal bank? With the completion of the transaction, EFG Hermes’ Egyptian operations now include an investment bank, a commercial bank and a fast-growing non-bank financial services platform, “ensuring that we can provide a holistic set of financial products and services to both retail and corporate clients alike in our home market,” Group CEO Karim Awad said.

The EGP 3.8 bn acquisition is a landmark for the Sisi administration as it looks to underscore its seriousness about partnering with the private sector to unlock growth. Critical here: The support of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, which has built a solid track record as a trusted partner for private business, and of the Central Bank of Egypt, which gave the transaction the green light. We have background on the transaction here and here.

EFG Hermes now has an addressable market of 1 bn consumers across Egypt and 12 other fast-growing frontier emerging market economies in which it is the leading FEM investment banking platform, spanning from Nigeria to Kenya, from Pakistan to Vietnam as well as offices in London and New York.

Awad and the team at EFG have been working hard on this transformation for years now. Read more in this two-part interview we did with him earlier this year (here and here) or listen to the background in our chat on Making It, our podcast on how to build a great business in Egypt (listen, runtime: 34:07 and tap the button in the player at the bottom of the page).

ALSO- Speaking of the central bank: Local businesses and manufacturers could be in line for more financing from banks. The CBE has directed banks to ramp up opex loans to domestic businesses, according to state-run MENA. The CBE wants banks to help local industry cope with rising global prices of raw materials and maintain productivity levels.

Idle factories could also get a shot in the arm, with CBE Governor Tarek Amer instructing banks to address issues facing local industry, including helping them with large fines on overdue taxes and natgas bills.

There’s more good news from the CBE, as remittances in August grew 11.6% y-o-y to USD 2.7 bn, according to a statement (pdf) out today.

HAPPENING NOW-

The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall have landed: President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Prince Charles discussed cooperation on fighting terrorism and extremism, as well as secondary education, health, and environmental initiatives during a meeting that just wrapped, according to an Ittihadiya statement. Charles landed in Cairo with the Duchess of Cornwall, who also met with First Lady Entissar El Sisi Ittihadiya said earlier in the day. Charles and Camilla are in town today and tomorrow for their first visit to Egypt in well over a decade. The royals will also head to Alexandria tomorrow. Their visit is getting plenty of coverage in the foreign press: The Telegraph | Evening Standard | the National.

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

• EGX trading fees are cut — and caps on margin trading delayed: In a meeting led by the Financial Regulatory Authority yesterday, policymakers agreed to cut trading, clearance and regulatory fees by 20% and to delay by six months the introduction of new restrictions on how much investors can borrow to trade shares.
• Anghami Nasdaq listing next month? Emirati music streaming service Anghami will pull the trigger on its SPAC merger and list on the Nasdaq at the end of December, Hossam Gamal, the company’s VP for North Africa, told us.
• Israel eyeing solar plants in Egypt? Israel is in talks to set up solar power plants in Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, and Greece as part of a broader strategy to cut carbon emissions and boost its green tech sector.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD- Emerging market equities are not having a great day: Turkey’s central bank is spooking markets (again) after deciding to slash interest rates earlier today following pressure from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Bloomberg reports. The move, which came despite spiraling inflation in Ankara, pushed the TRY to new record lows against the USD. Meanwhile, equities in other emerging markets are coming under pressure after Indian digital payments and e-commerce app Paytm flopped in its stock market debut, while investors are worried about a potential slowdown in China as the government appears unwilling to prop up its real estate sector, the Financial Times says. The EGX closed down 1.0%, while the MSCI emerging markets index is down 0.87% so far today.

It’s not all bad for Egypt: The TRY carry trade has been a consistent competitor for Egypt in our bid to attract foreign inflows — rate cuts in Ankara make our interest rates (already the highest in the world in real terms) look even more competitive. Lower rates across key EM could give the CBE some breaking room heading into 2022, when the US Federal Reserve is widely expected to begin raising interest rates.

????CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

AUC and the Egyptian Private Equity Association (EPEA) will host a panel on developments and regulatory changes in the stock market. The gathering takes place at the Tahrir campus in Downtown on Sunday, 21 November at 6pm, according to a press release (pdf). EGX Chairman Mohamed Farid, Sovereign Fund of Egypt Chief investment Officer Abdalla ElEbiary and managing director and chief investment officer at Nile Capital Holding Basel Roshdy will all make appearances.

ITIDA and the Software Engineering Competence Center are hosting a webinar on the future of fintech in Egypt next Tuesday, 23 November. The event will look at the current landscape and expected changes in light of new tech, regulations and market changes. You can register to attend here.

Entrepreneurs aged 18-35 have until 23 December to register for TotalEnergies’ Startupper of the Year Challenge. The competition is open for a business creation project or startup under three years old in any sector. Candidates can apply here.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events, national holidays and news triggers.

⛈TOMORROW’S WEATHER- It’s looking like a rainy weekend: Friday should be sans precipitation, with a daytime high of 25°C and a nighttime low of 15°C. But there’s a 20% chance of rain from Sunday to Monday as the mercury rises to 22-23°C during the day before falling to 14-16°C at night. Don’t expect a torrential downpour, but we could see as much as 5 mm of rain between the three days.