Egypt’s Nasser Social Bank (NSB) has launched new certificates of deposit (CDs) that offer an annual yield of up to 20 percent, with a three-year maturity period, according to a Cabinet statement on Saturday.
Additionally, NSB introduced an investment account named the “Day by Day” account, which guarantees a yearly yield of 15 percent. This new account option will be available for customers starting from Sunday.
To open an account, individuals are required to deposit a minimum of EGP 500,000 with no maximum limit imposed. Furthermore, customers can benefit from the exemption of account opening expenses within the first three months.
Nivine El-Kabbag, Minister of Social Solidarity and chairman of NSB, expressed the bank’s commitment to providing a diverse range of CDs tailored to the needs of both individuals and companies.
This move by NSB follows the recent issuance of high-yield CDs by the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Banque Misr, which offered annual yields of 23.5 percent and 27 percent, respectively.
The CDs released by NBE and Banque Misr attracted over $17 billion in the first two days alone, with expectations that the total proceeds will surpass EGP500 billion by the end of the anticipated offering period in February, Mohamed El-Etreby, head of Banque Misr and chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Banks (FEB), said last week.
The objective behind the issuance of these high-yield CDs by Egyptian banks is to reduce cash liquidity in the economy, thereby curbing inflation.
Egypt faced a surge in headline inflation rates during the initial months of 2023, reaching its peak in September at an alarming 40.3 percent.
However, the inflationary trend began to decelerate in October 2023, with the annual headline inflation rate declining to 35.2 percent in December 2023, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
Furthermore, these new CDs aim to attract funds from the CDs with a yield of 25 percent and 22.5 percent, issued by NBE and Banque Misr in January 2023 with a total value of EGP 500 billion in principal and interest.
Other high-yield CDs
Furthermore, other banks in Egypt have also introduced high-yield CDs. Ahli United Bank released premium CDs in June, offering an annual yield of 20 percent over three years, with a minimum purchase value of EGP 500,000.
Similarly, Banque du Caire recently announced issuing three-year CDs with an annual yield of 19 percent, requiring a minimum purchase value of EGP 1 million.
Lastly, the Commercial International Bank (CIB) has introduced premium CDs, which provide a fixed annual yield of 18 percent and can be acquired with a minimum value of EGP 1 million.