Banque Misr

Banque Misr (Arabic: بنك مصر‎) (Translated: The Bank of Egypt) is an Egyptian bank founded by industrialist Talaat Pasha Harb in 1920. The Egyptian government nationalized the bank in 1960. The bank has branch offices in all of Egypt's governorates, and currency exchange and work permit offices for foreign workers in Egypt.

History

Talaat Pasha Harb founded Banque Misr in 1920. He had published books in 1907 and 1911 calling for the founding of a national bank with Egyptian financing. (The National Bank of Egypt was British-owned, and all the other banks in Egypt were owned by foreigners.) Harb modeled Bank Misr’s operations on those of Deutsche Orientbank with which he was familiar due to his friendship with the owner of a Sephardi Jewish bank, Banque Suarès. Harb established Banque Misr and its companies on the basis of certain concepts: all its dealings were in Arabic, Egyptians operated the bank, and the bank restricted share ownership to Egyptian citizens. Misr’s Board of Directors included a number of Sephardic Jews and a Coptic Christian.