Banque du Caire aims to raise assets to EGP 80bn and achieve an 11% growth in deposits: Bank managers

Hossam Mounir
8 Min Read

 

Banque du Caire aims to achieve an ambitious plan to raise its total assets to EGP 80bn. The plan also includes achieving an 11% growth in deposits and a 21% growth in loans portfolio, according to Mounir El Zahid, CEO of Banque du Caire.

Daily New Egypt met with managers of Banque du Caire during their press conference last week to inquire on the bank’s results and indicators during 2014, and their plan during the next phase.

First of all, what are the main achievements of the bank during 2014?

The bank’s total profits during 2014 ascended to EGP 2.1bn, compared to EGP 1.7bn by the end of 2013 – with an increase of 23.5%.

Net profit after tax was EGP 1.3bn, achieving a Return on Equity (ROE) of 35.26%, which is one of the highest levels that can be achieved in the banking sector. The most important characteristic of the bank’s profits is that they are operating profit, as a result of the expansion of all banking activities.

The achievement of those profits is reflected on the high return on equity, which reached 35.26% in 2014, compared to 31.96% in 2013.

The size of the bank’s assets also increased by EGP 8bn to reach EGP 73bn in 2014 compared to EGP 65bn in 2013. The revenue on those assets reached about 1.83%.

What are the latest developments in the bank’s loans and deposits portfolios?

The total volume of the loan portfolio amounted to about EGP 30bn by the end of 2014, compared to EGP 25bn at the end of 2013, with an increase of EGP 5bn.

This increase in the volume of bank loans resulted from simplifying work procedures at the branches, and speeding up the process to meet customer needs, and improve the level of service offered. This came along with the bank’s expansion in retail banking and microcredit.

In regard to the portfolio of deposits, it has achieved a growth of EGP 6bn at a rate of 10% to jump from EGP 58bn at the end of 2013 to EGP 64bn by the end of 2014.

The increase in the deposits portfolio came as a result of the issuance of new and diverse foreign and local currency products to match the needs of different customers.

What are the loans to deposits ratio at the bank?

In 2014, we achieved a rate of 46.88%, compared to 43.10% in 2013. We have a credit policy aimed at selecting the assets in which the bank invests.

The bank seeks to raise its employment rates during the coming period to exceed the 47% recorded by the end of 2014, where global rates range between 80 and 85% for loans to deposits ratio.

How does the bank maintain its position, and compete with other banks operating in the Egyptian market?

Mohamed Mashhour, Executive Board Director and head of Retail Sector, said that there are a diversity of products offered such as employees’ loans, self-employed loans, and car loans, in addition to taking extra care of issuing e-cards. Collectively they help the bank to retain a large customer base and attract new customers.

The retail banking portfolio is of approximately EGP 18bn. The bank aims to achieve a growth rate of 25% per year in that portfolio, through existing products and new products.

Sherif Rehab, a General Manager in the Retail Banking Sector, said that the bank made a clear effort to raise individual loans from EGP 6.7bn at the end of 2011 to EGP 15.7bn at the end of 2014 and EGP 17.9bn currently. The bank acquires 48% of the public loans, 40% of the micro-finance and 18% of the automotive finance market.

Nermeen Al Tahry, head of the Marketing and Business Development Sector, added that the bank aims to design products and services for the groups that did not receive financial services, as a kind of support to the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) plans regarding financial inclusion.

How does the bank deal with clients’ demands for the US dollar? Does the bank face any obstacles regarding this issue?

According to Rania Hassan, General Manager of the Treasury Sector, the bank has no suspended demands for the dollar to supply the import operations. This is because the bank liquidation rates are well, which helped it cover all the clients’ needs for foreign currency. What helped the bank as well was its letters of credit opened for the public entities to import food products.

Tell us about what the bank aims to achieve during the upcoming months?

Ahmed Ismail, Vice-Manager of the Financial and Administrative Sector, said that the estimated budget for the bank during 2015 aims at increasing the total assets to EGP 80bn. In addition, it aims to achieve a growth rate amounting to 11% regarding the deposits’ portfolio to reach EGP 71bn. A growth rate amounting to 21%, regarding the loans’ portfolio, to reach EGP 36bn, is also targeted.

What about the bank’s direct investment portfolio? 

Mohamed Ragaay, Head of the Direct Investment Sector, said that the banks’ direct investment portfolio currently reaches EGP 1.35bn, which the bank targets to increase by 15%, to be close to EGP 1.5bn by the end of this year.

The banks’ investments in the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) reached approximately 75%. The rest of the direct investments portfolio in the bank is distributed among several shares in different companies.

The bank is about to launch a balanced fund over the last quarter of this year, with an initial size targeted to reach EGP 100m. After obtaining all the needed approvals, it is possible to reach to EGP 250m.

What about the technological services that the bank offers to its clients?

Khaled Hammad, Head of the Information Systems, said that the bank intends to launch electronic products and services for its clients over the next period. These include money transfer services via mobile phones in cooperation with Master Card and Fawry.

The bank is currently working on replacing the current network by another one which operates by optical fibres. Also it is working on adding Internet services “WIFI” in all its branches. Both projects will expectedly be completed before June 2016. In addition, ATM machines will be developed and a service to renew car licences will be added.

Ahmed Ismail, Vice-Manager of the Financial and Administrative Sector, added that the bank has allocated investments that amounted to approximately EGP 200m to improve its electronic system as well as open new branches during the next period.

Share This Article
Leave a comment