Reports that the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has issued a memo to all banks in Bahrain to temporarily stop credit card and ATM services in Egypt for security reasons have been denied by a top official.

According to reports in some Arabic and English newspapers in Bahrain yesterday, ATM services were halted in Egypt until further notice. Sources said it started two days ago and continues today, adding that it would last until elections end in Egypt.

'The CBB had not issued any circular in this regard to any concerned party or media channel,' executive director of financial institutions supervision Abdulrahman Al Baker said.

CBB executive director - banking supervision Khalid Hamad also denied the news and said the financial watchdog will deal with such false information strictly.

Union of Arab Banks chairman Adnan Yousif dismissed the report. He said in any case the CBB 'has no right to issue such a circular concerning Bahrain credit cards but may concern international credit cards like Visa and MasterCard.'

Yousif, who is also chief executive of the Al Baraka Banking Group, which has 30 branches in Egypt, said the group hasn't received any circular from the CBB.

Standard Chartered Bank chief executive Hassan Jarrar, HSBC business development manager Mohammad Shafi and head of VIP accounts at CrediMax also denied the report. – TradeArabia News Service