By: Eslam Fadl
Cairo – Mubasher: Banque du Caire succeeded in achieving higher net profits as well as an increase in its loans porfolio in the first six months of 2018 from a year-ago, the bank’s chairman revealed on Sunday.
Speaking at a press conference in Cairo, Tarek Fayed said the bank had logged EGP 1.2 billion in profits after taxes in H1-18, up from EGP 827 million in the same period of 2017.
As for its loans portfolio, Fayed revealed that the bank’s loans grew 13% year-on-year to EGP 50.5 billion in H1-18 from EGP 44.5 billion.
Financing offered to large firms reached EGP 24.2 billion between January and June 2018, the top official added, noting that this was a 22% rise from EGP 19.9 billion registered in the year-ago period.
The bank pumped around EGP 1.4 billion in its real estate portfolio during the period, Fayed went on, noting that Banque du Caire was looking to expand the property portfolio to EGP 1.7 billion by the end of 2018.
The bank offered EGP 375 million in financing to 4,131 clients during the six-month period and logged EGP 2.7 billion in net income, up 24% from EGP 2.2 billion in the same period of 2017, he added.
On a separate note, Banque du Caire’s chairman announced that the bank was going to expand in the GCC region, starting with the UAE, where the bank will open an office in the next two months.
Fayed also revealed that the bank was planning to increase its market share in Egypt’s banking sector to 6% within five years, from its current 4%.
Meanwhile, head of Banque du Caire’s SME Banking Nader Saad forecast that the bank’s project portfolio would rise to EGP 5 billion by the end of the fiscal year 2018/2019.
The bank’s small projects portfolio reached EGP 3.4 billion by the end of June 2018.
The small and medium-sized (SME) project portfolio currently makes up 13% of the bank’s total credit portfolio, Saad told Mubasher exclusively during the press conference.
Banque du Caire previously said it was considering offering up to 30% of its capital on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) in late 2018 or early 2019 as part of the government’s initial public offerings (IPOs) programme.
Translated by: Nada Adel Sobhi
