By: Islam Fadl
Cairo – Mubasher: The National Bank of Egypt (CBE) is projected to achieve profits of EGP 9 billion during the second half of fiscal year 2018/2019, NBE’s vice chairman Yehia Aboul Fotouh told Mubasher.
During the first half of FY18/19, NBE generated a net profit of EGP 9 billion, Aboul Fotouh added on the sideline of the annual Arab Banking Conference on Sunday.
He further revealed that the bank acquired 51% of the capital shares of Arab Company For Special Steel (ARCOSTEEL) in consideration of a debt worth EGP 4 billion, in addition to injecting EGP 400 million into ARCOSTEEL’s paid-up capital.
For his part, NBE’s chairman Hisham Okasha told reporters that NBE’s small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) loan portfolio amounted to EGP 65 billion at the end of last November, including EGP 37 billion worth of soft loans with interest rates up to 7% under the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) SME funding initiative.
In addition, the state-run bank’s retail banking portfolio stood at EGP 83 billion, while mortgage funding for low-income people registered EGP 8 billion at the end of November, Okasha added.
The chairman revealed that NBE is the first Egyptian bank to provide digital banking services through the launch of four digital branches.
