Egyptian banks have taken more steps to curtail the use of USD abroad, due to FX shortage in Egypt. Many banks reduced the limits on their issued credit and debit cards. This entails cash withdrawals and purchases. Moreover, banks now also give out less hard cash to clients going overseas. The average limit is set at USD250 and can be retrieved once a year. Mounir El-Zahid, CEO and chairperson of Banque du Caire, said that Egyptians spend about USD3bn every year via credit cards abroad. Earlier this year, National Bank of Egypt (NBE), Banque Misr and Banque du Caire had reduced the limit allowed on their cards abroad and the amount of cash-in-hand granted to travelling clients. Several banks had followed suit, of which Commercial International Bank (CIB), Arab African International Bank (AAIB), BLOM Bank Egypt and Faisal Islamic Bank. United Bank of Egypt decided to ban cash withdrawal from its credit cards abroad and set a purchase limit equivalent to EGP10,000 per day, and EGP25,000 per month. As for its debit cards, the bank imposed a limit of EGP5,000 for both cash withdrawal and purchases. While NBK Egypt set variable limits for its credit cards ranging between EGP5,000 to EGP25,000. Ahli United Bank followed suit, setting a limit of EGP1,000 for cash withdrawal on its classic debit card, EGP3,000 as a weekly limit, and EGP9,000 a month. (The Daily News Egypt)   CIB: EGP51.87 as of 16 August 2016, Rating: Neutral, FV: EGP46.38 per share, MCap: USD6,740mn, COMI EY / COMI.CA BLOM: USD10.06 as of 16 August 2016, Rating: Buy, FV: USD12.07 per share, MCap: USD2,163mn, BLBD LB / BLBDF.BY Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt: USD1.46 as of 16 August 2016, Rating: Buy, FV: USD1.77 per share, MCap: USD336mn, FAITA EY / FAITA.CA National Bank of Kuwait: KWD0.61 as of 16 August 2016, Rating: Buy, FV: KWD0.77 per share, MCap: USD11,459mn, NBK KK / NBKK.KW