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Medhat Hassanein
- Position: Distinguished University Professor
- Department: Heikal Department of Management
- Email: [email protected]
Distinguished university professor, Medhat Hassanein is a professor of finance and banking in the Department of Management of the Onsi Sawiris School of Business at The American University in Cairo (AUC).
Hassanein served as the minister of finance in Egypt (1999- 2004). Hassanein was the chairman of the board of directors of Civil Aviation Finance Holding Company (CIAF Holding), 2008 - March 2017. Hassanein was a member of the board of directors and the chairman of the audit committee of the Commercial International Bank (CIB), from 2009 to 2017.
Hassanein was a board member and the chairman of the audit committee of HSBC Egypt from 2004 to 2009.
Hassanein obtained his BA in economics from Cairo University with very good honors. Hassanein holds an MBA from the Graduate School of Business (later called Stern College), New York University, with distinction, and a PhD from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, United States.
He was the senior economist of the projects department of the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development in Kuwait, a regional development fund that operates according to the rules of the World Bank and serves all developing Arab countries. During his term with the fund, he participated in the financing of infrastructural, agro-industrial, industrial and agricultural projects. Thereafter, he was promoted to lead the fund's technical assistance department.
A few years later, Hassanein joined the Arab Investment Bank in Egypt as the head of the investment sector in charge of project finance, assets management and private equity transactions of the bank.
After his service with the Arab Investment Bank, he was offered the position of president of the Egyptian Gulf Bank in Egypt, a commercial bank, where he served as the CEO of the bank in charge of all bank’s operations.
Professor Hassanein is a senior policy analyst with long experience in institutional building, macro-policy analysis, financial economics, corporate finance, international financial management. He has previously served as an advisor to government, high-level advisory bodies and the donor community.
During his term as Minister of Finance, he developed and instituted the second- generation set of fiscal public policy reforms for the Government of Egypt. These included developing inter alia, tax, customs reforms; reviewing the procurement system in government; revising the pensions system (pay-as-you-go versus fully-funded systems) together with the investment policy of social insurance funds; introducing public expenditure reviews and performance-based budgeting; building design and policies for the formalization of extra-legal entities; securing international and local funding packages for the appraisal and implementation of national projects; developing a program for the corporatization of public economic authorities; setting a program for the management of government cash flow; and enhancing the effectiveness of the public debt-management function by introducing Egypt’s debut Eurobond issue in international financial markets, the primary dealers system in Egypt and studying national debt-equity swaps.
Additionally, Hassanein supervised the transformation of Egypt sales tax to a preliminary value-added tax. The value-added tax law was ratified by the Egyptian parliament in 2002/2003. In order to successfully ensure the right application of the law, he composed a team of professionals assigned the tasks of building the VAT system with IT support and an extensive training program for the Ministry of Finance VAT Department Staff. The VAT Department is always looked at as a leading government apparatus in Egypt and the Middle East. The Model Tax and Customs Center is another activity implemented by Minister Hassanein during his term. For the first time in the history of Egypt’s tax system, this center housed in one building the three revenue-generating departments represented by leading units from each, i.e. Income Tax Authority, Sales Tax authority and Customer Authority. The purpose of this physical coexistence is to coordinate the operational systems of the three authorities in order to facilitate the investigation of taxes and customs files of taxpayers, the right calculation of the taxes due and to unify the arbitration process. This center has gained the reputation of being fair, efficient and receptive to improvement.
Hassanein has authored numerous articles and government reports on topical issues in economics, fiscal and monetary policy, finance and banking, macroeconomic reforms, privatization, capital markets and the extra-legal economy in Egypt.
Professor Hassanein was a member of the High-Level Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor, a UN organ. He was selected among commissioners to be the chairman of Group 4 (one among five groups) which is entrusted with the study of Entrepreneurship: Expanding Opportunities for Legally Establishing Business and Fostering Innovative Financial Instruments and Institutions for the Transition from Informal to Formal Business. The Commission concluded its tasks by publishing the report “Making The Law Work for Everyone”.
Professor Hassanein is a member of many local and international professional associations. He has served as chairman and board member of banks (investment, commercial and development), public holding companies and private corporations.
- Corporate Finance
- Enterprise Risk Management
- Banking
- Fiscal Policy
- Macroeconomic Policies
- Capital Markets and the Extra-legal Economy