Banking

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.