National Bank of Egypt Gets In-Principle UAE Approval to Acquire Banque Misr’s 5 UAE Branches
The Central Bank of the UAE has given in-principle approval to a request by the National Bank of Egypt to acquire Banque Misr’s UAE branches, the two Egyptian banks said in a joint announcement on Tuesday. The banks said they had reached a preliminary agreement to rearrange their banking presence in the UAE in line with the country’s legal and procedural requirements, and that the transfer would be completed in an orderly way under the central bank’s requirements, with customers’ rights and continuity of service protected.
The announcement is a preliminary step rather than a completed transaction. It gives no price, timetable or balance sheet terms, and it does not refer to the US regulatory proposal issued last month.
5 branches would move to the National Bank of Egypt
Banque Misr lists 5 branches in the UAE, in Abu Dhabi, Business Bay, Deira, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, and separately lists a Gulf regional centre in Dubai. The announcement covers the branches and does not say whether the regional centre is part of the transfer. The National Bank of Egypt already has a representative office in Dubai and a Dubai financial advisory arm, NBE (DIFC) Limited, so the branches would add a branch network to its existing UAE presence.
The banks described the move as part of a shared vision to integrate their presence abroad. Banque Misr thanked the Central Bank of the UAE and the UAE authorities for their cooperation throughout its time in the country, while the National Bank of Egypt said it looked forward to a long-term relationship with the UAE and its regulatory and banking institutions.
The US proposal remains open
The approval comes 25 days, on our calculation, after the US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed, on 28 August, a rule under section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act that would bar US financial institutions from opening or maintaining correspondent accounts for the same 5 branches, as The Edge reported at the time. The notice put the branches’ assets at about 6 billion dollars, with 3 direct US correspondent relationships, and said they had processed about 1.8 billion dollars between January 2024 and June 2026 for 103 companies it assessed as potentially tied to Iranian shadow banking networks. The proposed finding does not extend to Banque Misr outside the UAE.
The measure has not become final. The proposal was published in the Federal Register on 1 September with written comments due by 1 October 2026, and FinCEN’s register of special measures lists it as a proposed rule with no final rule recorded. Banque Misr said on 29 August that it was reviewing the notice and would submit its response within the specified period.
| Date | Step |
|---|---|
| 28 August 2026 | US proposed rule under section 311 on the 5 UAE branches |
| 29 August 2026 | UAE central bank orders a special and urgent examination, including a forensic lookback |
| 30 August 2026 | Joint statement by the UAE and Egyptian central banks: branches operating as usual |
| 22 September 2026 | In-principle UAE approval for NBE to acquire the branches |
| 1 October 2026 | Deadline for comments on the US proposed rule |
Joint announcement of the two banks, 22 September 2026; statements of the UAE and Egyptian central banks, 29 and 30 August; Federal Register, 1 September.
The UAE central bank’s examination, ordered on 29 August, covers the period referred to in the US statement, with a focus on transactions of the companies it named. No outcome of that examination has been published. In the same statement, the central bank said it was studying the available options for the branches should the special measure be imposed, with the appropriate decision to be taken in due course, taking into account the bank’s obligations to its customers in the UAE.
Why it matters: both banks are wholly owned by the Egyptian state, so the transfer would move the 5 UAE branches from one state-owned Egyptian bank to another rather than out of Egyptian state ownership, and it is being carried out through the UAE central bank’s approval process. For the branches’ customers, the banks said the handover would follow the UAE central bank’s requirements and ensure continuity of service.
Outlook: the next markers are any further approvals from the UAE central bank, the terms and timetable of the transfer, the close of the US comment period on 1 October and any final US rule after it. The announcement does not say whether completing the acquisition would change the scope of any final US measure.
Sources: Banque Misr, National Bank of Egypt, Central Bank of the UAE, Central Bank of Egypt, FinCEN, Federal Register, The Edge.
