HDB branch to launch sign language service under CSR

07 / 03 / 2020

By Ahmed Abdel Qawi - - | Edited by Marwa Nassar

Egypt’s Housing and Development Bank (HDB) Board Chairman and Managing Director Hassan Ghoneim said the HDB branch in Gesr El Suez Street in Cairo governorate will launch sign language service for deaf and dumb people during March in course.

Ghoneim said the service was spearheaded within the framework of the bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy as well as ongoing efforts to support people of special needs and get deaf and dumb people to be part of financial inclusion strategy.

Deaf and speechless people will be exempted from fees for opening bank accounts as well as the minimum level of banking accounts at all the bank’s branches.

The service will be launched in tandem with the Egyptian Association For Deaf & Hearing Impaired.

The association will send one of its members to the branch to train the bank’s employees on sign language and temporarily deal with customers of special needs.

The move falls within the framework of the bank’s efforts to serve society and reach out with the largest number of people.

The bank’s CSR efforts:

Egypt’s Housing and Development Bank allocates 2.5% of its annual profits for CSR activities. The health and education absorb 75 percent of the CSR allocations.

The bank granted about EGP 12 million to the Nile University from 2016 until the end of 2019.

The bank has also funded scholarships and participated in Nile Preneurs initiative which was sponsored by the Central Bank of Egypt to support small and medium sized enterprises.