Banking
From The Report: Egypt 2014
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Despite a challenging economic backdrop, Egypt’s banks have succeeded in growing their assets and maintaining profitability over the past year. Their solid performance has been facilitated by a process of reform that began a decade ago. The banking network comprised 3651 branches in 2013, an increase of 41 branches over the previous year, which resulted in a density of 22,900 people per banking unit. Egypt’s banking sector has shown its ability to thrive even in turbulent times by posting a growth in activity over the past year, while maintaining profitability. Over the next year it is likely that the question of regulatory compliance will continue to occupy banks’ management across the sector as the central bank presses on with the Basel III Accord.

This chapter contains an interview with Hisham Ezz Al Arab, Chairman and Managing Director, Commercial International Bank.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Reforms prove successful, as the sector maintains robust performance
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Despite a challenging economic backdrop, Egypt’s banks have succeeded in growing their assets and maintaining profitability over the past year. Their solid performance has been facilitated by a process of banking reform that began a decade ago, and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) continues to command the attention of the sector with its final implementation of the Basel III regulations. With deposits rising comfortably, attention has turned to the question of lending growth. Banks have taken significant…

Interview

OBG talks to Hisham Ezz Al Arab, Chairman and Managing Director, Commercial International Bank
OBG
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Interview:Hisham Ezz Al Arab How can banks be further incentivised to lend to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)? HISHAM EZZ AL ARAB: SMEs represent a great opportunity in the market, and while composing a large percentage of Egypt’s productivity, most operate informally without institutional banking support. The registration of SMEs and the support of such firms through specialised investment and capacity-building programmes would be a future growth driver for the banking industry. In…

Interview

OBG talks to Hisham Ezz Al Arab, Chairman and Managing Director, Commercial International Bank
OBG
plus

Interview:Hisham Ezz Al Arab How can banks be further incentivised to lend to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)? HISHAM EZZ AL ARAB: SMEs represent a great opportunity in the market, and while composing a large percentage of Egypt’s productivity, most operate informally without institutional banking support. The registration of SMEs and the support of such firms through specialised investment and capacity-building programmes would be a future growth driver for the banking industry. In…

Analysis

Basel implementation set to continue amid strong fundamentals
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Egypt’s revolution of 2011 may be over, but the lingering fallout has continued to force the banking sector’s regulator, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), to maintain a proactive stance in addressing potential weaknesses – something it has done with success over the past few years. Faced with a rapidly deteriorating economic scenario, it moved quickly to safeguard banks by implementing a range of temporary measures, including shutting their doors for a week and putting in place withdrawal limits…

Analysis

New microfinance legislation offers opportunities to enter the small business lending arena
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The success with which Egypt’s banks have increased their deposit base against the backdrop of political unrest and economic uncertainty is good news for the sector. According to a recent report by Lebanon’s Bank Audi, total deposits rose by 20.6% in 2013 to reach $189.2bn, an expansion more than double the size of that seen in the previous year. Where the nation’s banks have been less successful, however, is translating this increased liquidity into private sector lending. While the call…

Analysis

Strong potential for take-up of new mobile banking technology
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Just how many of Egypt’s nearly 90m citizens remain outside the banking system is a matter of speculation. A recent report by accountancy firm EY suggests that only 10% of Egyptian adults hold an account at a formal institution, while other market observers have posited more generous estimates of up to 35% formalisation across the eligible population. Whichever figure is used, however, it is clear that the country’s retail market is underbanked, and as Ihab Rafaat, general manager and COO of…