Deutsche Bank celebrates golden jubilee in Middle East

The event, hosted by Henry Azzam, Deutsche Bank's CEO in the Middle East and North Africa, and Werner Steinmueller, Head of Global Transaction Banking at the Bank, was attended by close to 200 dignitaries.

In his welcoming remarks, Henry Azzam, said:

"Half a century ago, Deutsche Bank established a foothold for itself in Cairo, since then the Bank has continued to grow and expand across the Arab World. Now our presence in the region covers six countries, with four representative offices, four branches and three subsidiaries. Our commitment to Egypt is solid and we have a strong desire to upgrade our presence here and the scope of services offered."

Werner Steinmueller said, "Our clients in the Middle East benefit from Deutsche Bank's leadership in technology and product development when using our cash, trade and securities services across the region. The Middle East has always been an important region for our Global Transaction Banking business and the growth we have witnessed over the past five years is testimony to our status as trusted and a secure partner in the region."

Deutsche Bank's commitment to the Middle East region began close to a century ago with its financing of the Hijaz railway. Its first sub-branch was opened in Baghdad in 1914, but had to be closed due to the eruption of World War I.

The Cairo representative office was opened in January 1959 and was responsible for taking care of business in the entire region: Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Sudan, and from November 1959, Ethiopia and Libya. Egypt was initially the focus of activity, but this has increased over the years.

The main task of the Cairo office was to maintain contact with the representatives of the Bank's German customers abroad and to provide information on the region to other branches of Deutsche Bank.

In 1983, Deutsche Bank opened a representative office in Bahrain, and in 1999 began to expand across the Gulf Cooperation Council countries with the opening of a representative office in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. In 2001 the Bank opened another representative office in Dubai and finally in 2005, it opened a branch in the Dubai International Financial Centre in order to better capitalise on opportunities in the region. In 2006/07 Deutsche Bank increased it presence with branches in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and Doha (Qatar).

Today Deutsche Bank is a leading foreign supplier of a wide range of services in MENA, in the sectors of investment banking, global transaction banking, asset management, private wealth management and global transaction banking.