The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has successfully completed the first wave of its banking reform program (started 2004 & ended December 2008). In January 2009 CBE initiated the
second wave of its reform program scheduled to end by 2011 (extend up to 31 March 2012).This wave includes several pillars including applying Basel II in the Egyptian banking sector
in cooperation with the European Union.
Basel II Program Memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed in 2008 between CBE & European Central Bank (ECB); in cooperation with seven European National Central
Banks (NCBs) namely; Bulgarian National Bank, Czech National Bank, Deutsche Bundesbank, Bank of Greece, Banque de France,Banca d'Italia, and National Bank of
Romania. The Program duration was three years started in January 2009. A dedicated task force has been set up inside the CBE to manageall aspects leading to the implementation of
Basel II framework. Also, an EU resident project coordinator from Banque de France joined the program. The program phases included Capacity building of the specialized task force
and banking supervision executives on Basel II issues،Intense coordination with the bankingsystem based on discussion papers that were i
ssued on the significant topics related to Basel II،Quantitative impact studies (QIS) to assess the consequences of future Basel II
regulations،Set up of a new data-warehouse framework to enhance data collection and Finalized the fine tuning of the regulations related to Basel II.
The program of implementing Basel II in the Egyptian banking sector has ended successfully;and it has been decided that banks will be re
quired to apply Basel II pillar I regulations starting from December 2012 & June 2013 according to the end of the financial year of each
bank.