Fitch places two Egyptian banks on rating watch negative – ZAWYA

Fitch places two Egyptian banks on rating watch negative – ZAWYA

Fitch places two Egyptian banks on rating watch negative. A branch of Commercial International Bank (CIB) is pictured in Cairo, Egypt July 30, 2017.. Fitch has placed Egypt's Commercial International Bank (CIB) long-term issuer default rating, viability rating, national ratings and National Bank of Egypt's (NBE) viability rating on rating watch negative (RWN).. The ratings agency believes that the RWN on both banks' ratings reflects expectations that Egyptian banks will face material pressure from a weaker operating environment and tightening of foreign currency (FC) liquidity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.. "Global financial markets volatility triggered USD14 billion of investment portfolio outflows in March from the local currency debt market, pressuring FC reserves as this is repatriated and liquidity in the banking sector," the ratings agency said in a note..