Cairo – Mubasher: EFG Hermes is looking to expand into the insurance and mortgage sectors after obtaining the required regulatory approval, the firm’s CEO said.
The leading Egyptian investment bank has been boosting its non-banking services that raised around 20% of its profit in the third quarter of 2018, Karim Awad told Reuters.
Awad expected non-banking financial activity to account for nearly 50% of EFG Hermes’ profits by the end of 2021, pointing out that earnings may reach 30% by the end of this year.
The largest investment bank in the Middle East is also seeking to enter a new market in Asia or Africa within a year, he remarked.
The company is not planning to operate directly in Argentina in the meantime, but it has the capabilities to implement transactions there through the securities sector, the CEO added.
“Morocco is a good market, but establishing a presence there isn’t currently in our plans,” he said.
EFG Hermes previously reported a 23.7% year-on-year drop in consolidated profits for the first nine months of 2018.
Net profit retreated to EGP 767.16 million during the period starting January to September from EGP 1.005 billion in the year-ago period.
