News and Press Releases

BARCLAYS BANK EGYPT TEAM COMPETES IN GLOBAL TOURNAMENT...
Barclays Premier League Five-A-Side Employee Tournament 2008

Cairo, Egypt - April 19th 2008 – Barclays Bank Egypt employees were preparing themselves for some fierce competition, as the winning team will join other teams from around the globe for the finals of the 2008 Barclays Premier League Global Five-a-Side Employee Tournament.

The football tournament is an annual event where a team of seven players are selected from each country in which the Barclays Bank operates, with the finals taking place at St James’ Park; the home of Newcastle United football club.

Barclays around the world is dedicated to sporting activities, especially football. This tournament is a great example of Barclays Management keenness on investing in its employees either on the educational, sporting, or leisure fronts. The event is also regarded by the bank as part of its constant pursuit of building a strong sense of team spirit highlighting its guiding principles "Winning Together and Best people," said Khalid Elgibaly, Managing Director, Barclays Bank Egypt and North Africa.

The seven players who will represent Barclays Egypt at the tournament competed in qualifying rounds held at the Wadi Degla Club today. The tournament included 16 teams who were well selected from Barclays among 1800 Barclays employees from 51 branches nationwide.

The guest of honor for the tournament was Hassan Shehata, coach for the Egyptian national team who presented all the support and encouragement for Barclays Bank teams. Attendees of the event included Barclays Bank Egypt Leadership Team who came to support and cheer the participating teams. Mr. Akram Tinawi, Corporate Banking Director and Executive Board Member handed out prizes for the three winning teams and announced the grand prize for the winning team that will be taken to the UK for the finals on 16th May, 2008.

Eleven other teams from Barclays Europe, Middle East and Africa are due to meet with the Egyptian team in the UK, including countries such as France, Ghana, Ireland and the UAE.

BARCLAYS LAUNCHES A ROAD SAFETY CAMPAIGN

Cairo, May 25th 2008 – In an initiative to curb the human and financial costs of Egypt’s high incidence of road accidents, Barclays Bank Egypt has launched a Road Safety campaign in cooperation with Wilad Misr Association.

The launch has taken place in a seminar on "Road Safety A Responsibility of All Drivers" and has been inaugurated with a keynote by General Mohamed Mansour, Assistant Minister of Interior and Manager of the General Directorate of Traffic.

The initial plans for the campaign were set and agreed upon in April 2007 with Wilad Misr Association who will implement, supervise and monitor the campaign. The project provides awareness on road safety to the general publics and primarily to youth and frequent travelers on the high traffic free ways; the Cairo/Alex Desert Road and the Cairo/Suez Desert Road.

As of the launch, 5,000 first aid kits, 10,000 safe driving guides and 20,000 flyers printed with road safety messages will be distributed to drivers in the selected areas. These tools were produced in an attempt to minimize the losses amounted to over EGP1 billion reported in 2007 by the Egyptian Ministry of Health. Statistics also reported 73,000 road accidents in 2007, which resulted in 245,000 deaths and injuries in the ages between 5 and twenty five.

"At Barclays Bank Egypt we are well aware of the positive impact that successful businesses can make on their surrounding communities. Therefore we thought of this initiative to contribute in raising awareness on Road Safety and thus reducing road accidents and their tragic consequences," said Omnia Elnosairy, Head of Corporate Affairs during her speech at the launch.

"This campaign is an outcome of the constructive cooperation between the private sector and civil society with a long-term vision to eliminate the current problems and issues facing traffic in Egypt. The campaign will target sports and social clubs, youth communities, public and private universities to ensure spread of messages among those who are compassionate for a positive behavioral change", said Mohamed Al Okda, President of Wilad Misr Association.

Barclays Bank Egypt dedicates 1% of its annual profit to developing communities through several CSR projects. In 2007, more than 300 employees participated by donating their own time and effort into supporting these projects; with over 1300 hours of volunteerism. Barclays also allocated more than EGP 4.5 million for CSR initiatives in eight different governorates in partnership with 18 NGO’s in order to support issues such as environment education, healthcare, women’s empowerment and children.