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The year 2016 was a difficult one for exchanges across the MENA region, thanks in large part to stubbornly low oil prices and political unrest. Egypt’s main index reflected the regional malaise for the first half of 2016, with a currency crisis and seemingly intractable fiscal deficit doing little to boost investor confidence. By the second...

Despite strenuous economic circumstances in recent years, Egyptian banks displayed a relatively robust performance in 2016 in terms of profitability, which has, in turn, led to a jump in credit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups. While healthy sector numbers and regulatory reforms have helped foster an increase in...

In early 2016 the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) introduced new regulations that established maximum loan limits for corporate borrowers and imposed affordability criteria for new retail borrowers.

The Basel III banking accords mark the latest step in the long process of harmonising financial regulations across markets, but the nature of their focus – and some of the problems they seek to solve – means that their relevance to the Middle East and Africa’s emerging and frontier markets can sometimes be somewhat limited.

Consistently posting robust financial stability data, Egypt’s banking sector has shown itself capable of weathering difficult economic circumstances over recent years. However, profitability has been challenged by a range of forces, including significant changes made in 2016 to the regulatory framework surrounding lending activity and a...

The Egyptian banking sector faces two diverging trends in terms of liquidity, depending on whether it is being measured in local currency or foreign currency.