Qatar National Bank hires McKinsey to advise on Egypt business strategy

Qatar National Bank, the nation’s largest lender, hired McKinsey & Co to help formulate a strategy for its Egyptian business as it seeks to boost operations, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The company is helping the state-controlled lender devise a five-year plan for Qatar National Bank Alahly, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. QNB is working to increase profitability and market share in Egypt, according to one of the people.

QNB bought 97 per cent of the lender in March last year from Société Générale for US$2.45 billion. The Doha-based bank is seeking to expand in Egypt, a country with a population 40-times greater than Qatar’s, even as relations between the two nations deteriorate after the military-backed overthrow of Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood government last July.

QNB Alahly’s loan growth was 9.6 per cent last year, the second-biggest among Egyptian lenders, after rising 2.3 per cent in 2012. Net income rose 16 per cent, the biggest gain since 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, while assets rose 21 per cent, the third-highest rate in Egypt after Societe Arabe Internationale de Banque and Union National Bank.

An official at QNB did not immediately return an email and phone call seeking comment. A call to McKinsey’s offices in London after hours was not immediately returned.

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

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