Compliance & Corporate Governance

ABK-Egypt had been progressively committed to applying the fundamental governance standards and values of transparency & disclosure, responsibility, accountability, fairness, functionality, integrity, efficiency, clear segregation of roles and responsibilities and defined and documented mandates, as well as delegated authorities, all of which contribute to creating and sustaining the confidence of investors, shareholders, and where applicable, stakeholders, and the society at large.

Eventually, applying good governance standards will help the Bank benefit from more diversified and stable funding and additional revenue streams, thus reducing volatility and minimizing the effects of external shocks.


The Corporate Governance function in Banks:

Good governance is essential for long-term survival and success of any institution and depends greatly on the skills, experience and knowledge of its directors. We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance for the aim of promoting confidence in its daily operations and governance systems.

  1. Putting into practice the provisions & requirements of the "Code of Governance for Egyptian Banks"
  2. Overseeing the existence of clear lines of responsibility and segregation of duties
  3. Preparing/amending the policies, required by the "Code of Governance for Egyptian Banks", for the sake of providing assurance to the shareholders & stakeholders at large that the Bank operations are consistent and sound
  4. Proper & skillful preparation of the Charter of the Board, as well as the Board Committees
  5. Exerting every effort to detect conflict of interest incidents, or any conduct that could cast doubt on the Bank’s commitment to high ethical standards so that likely conflicts would be timely identified and dealt with appropriately
  6. Presenting quarterly reviews on the activities of the Board & Management Committees, in light of the directives of the Egyptian laws and regulations, in addition to the terms & conditions set by the committees relevant charters
  7. Preparing Corporate Governance Year End Statement
  8. Enhancing the staff awareness of the corporate governance issues and fostering a culture that encourages open communication and transparency, through a series of structured training sessions
  1. As the role of the Board lies at the very heart of Corporate Governance (CG), ABK-Egypt has an effective and appropriately constituted Board of Directors which, as representatives of the Bank shareholders, is responsible for the stewardship of the Bank and the supervision of its business with integrity and professionalism
  2. The Board applies clear segregation of duties between the Chairman and Managing Director & CEO, and maintains a balance between Executive, Non-Executive and Non-Executive Independent directors*. The members of the Board reflect a mix of backgrounds and perspectives, functional competences, and governance expertise

The present Board of Directors consists of (8) members, out of which: (1) Executive Directors, (4) Non-Executive Directors and (3) Independent - Non-Executive Directors


BOARD OF DIRECTORS
ALI EBRAHIM HEJJI HUSSAIN MARAFI Chairman – Non-Executive Board Member
KHALED NABIL EL SALAWY CEO & Managing Director – Executive Board Member
KHALED MAHMOUD ABDEL AZIZ MAHMOUD Independent Board Member – Non-Executive
KHALED LOTFY HASSAN MOHAMED EL ATTAR Independent Board Member – Non-Executive
JAMAL AHMAD SYED IQBAL Non-Executive Board Member
SHIAMAK EDUL SOONAWALLA Non-Executive Board Member
HANIA MOHAMED ABDEL RAHMAN SADEK Independent Board Member – Non-Executive
SHERIN MOHAMED HAMED MOHAMED Non-Executive Board Member
In compliance with CBE and Banking Sector Law 194/2020 & "Code of Governance for Egyptian Banks", ABK-Egypt has in place (4) Board Committees to assist the Board in fulfilling its responsibilities and duties. The committees are as follows:
  1. The Audit Committee
  2. The Risk Committee
  3. The Remuneration Committee
  4. The Nomination & Corporate Governance Committee

Each of the above committees has a detailed charter that describes its purpose, membership and organization, duties and responsibilities, authorities and charter review.

OrganizationalChart
  1. The Code of Conduct for the Board of Directors reflects the business practices and principles of behavior that support the bank’s commitment to maintaining the highest standards of ethical conduct
  2. It is intended to provide guidance for avoiding situations of conflict and in general to uphold proper conduct
  3. Our Board of Directors is responsible for setting the standards of conduct contained in the Code and for updating these standards as and when appropriate, to reflect legal and regulatory developments
  4. All our Board members are required to sign a declaration confirming that they have read and understood the Code of Conduct and the constituent legal and regulatory requirements and respective policies of the bank
  1. The Code of Conduct is designed to guide all employees to the best practices that would enable each and every staff member to fulfill his/her responsibilities and obligations toward the Bank’s stakeholders (shareholders, clients, staff, regulators, suppliers and the community at Large), and which are in compliance with all applicable laws & regulations, in addition to internal policies & procedures.
  2. The Code addresses such issues as acting responsibly, honestly, fairly and ethically; avoiding conflicts of interest; protecting the Bank property and data; protecting clients’ confidential information and safeguarding the information of others; complying with the rules of disclosure of information and with the prohibition of insider trading; preventing money laundering and terrorism financing; rejecting bribery and corruption; avoiding compromising gifts; complying with provisions prohibiting outside employment and other activities, unless approved, as well as speaking up and ‘whistleblowing’
  3. Everyone is required to sign an “Acknowledgment” confirming having received and read the Code of Conduct, will follow and will continue to follow its requirements, and agree that if they have any concern about any possible misconduct or breach of the Code of Conduct, s/he would raise the concern with the appropriate persons within the Bank as stipulated by the Code
  4. Our Bank has in place a Whistle-blowing policy & procedures that cope with the Group’s requirements, as well as CBE Code for Banks’ Governance
  5. The policy and its procedures are easily accessible by all staff members on the Bank’s intranet
  6. Employees are encouraged to report to their supervisors, managers or other designated personnel, any observed behavior or acts that they believe may present impairment to the Bank’s Code of Conduct, or when in doubt about the best course of action that should rather be adopted in a particular situation
  7. In the meantime, it is the policy of the Bank not to allow retaliation for reports made, in good faith, by employees identifying any misconduct carried out by others
  1. ABK-Egypt has in place a Whistle-blowing policy & procedures that cope with the Group’s requirements, as well as CBE Code for Banks’ Governance
  2. The policy and its procedures are easily accessible by all staff members on the Bank’s intranet
  3. Employees are encouraged to report to their supervisors, managers or other designated personnel, any observed behavior or acts that they believe may present impairment to the Bank’s Code of Conduct, or when in doubt about the best course of action that should rather be adopted in a particular situation
  4. In the meantime, it is the policy of the Bank not to allow retaliation for reports made, in good faith, by employees identifying any misconduct carried out by others
  5. All communications are dealt with strictly confidentially, and accordingly, a telephone line and an e-mail have been designated for this purpose to keep the reporting confidential
  1. All Board members and Senior Management staff are required to disclose complete information on any external business relationships with the Bank vendors, suppliers, significant clients and family relationships, in which they have personal material interests or commitments, so that any potential conflicts can be timely identified and dealt with appropriately
  2. No Board member or any Senior Management staff member will put himself/ herself in a position where their interests’ conflict, or may be perceived to be in conflict, with those of the Bank
  3. The Bank has managed to establish a culture that, regardless of regulatory requirements, does not tolerate any conduct that casts doubt on the Bank commitment to high ethical standards and that values the Bank long-term reputation over any possible short-term benefits
  4. It is the responsibility of everyone in the organization to identify conflicts and to see to it that conflicts, if any, are being managed appropriately
  5. Moreover, our Code of Conduct identifies the rules of conduct and ethics applicable to all staff members, as well as guidelines on avoiding conflicts of interest

The Board and employees are expected to make every effort to segregate between their personal and business affairs to avoid any unneeded Conflict of Interest. The Related Party Transactions Policy outlines the applicable laws and regulations governing these transactions, it also highlights the key controls are in place such as Monitoring, Identification, Approval, Disclosure and Reporting.

  1. In order to minimize the financial, legal and reputation impact of unpredictable incidents, we have designed a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that takes into account all potentially relevant scenarios that could result in a crisis event(s) for the Bank
  2. BCP adopts a wide approach designed to ensure that critical business activities can be recovered in a timely and correct manner in the event of occurrence of internal or external incident(s) that might lead to failure of resources and processes