Bank Audi Egypt plans to pump funds of approximately EGP 8bn into different economic sectors throughout 2016, Deputy Chairman and Managing Director Mohamed Abbas Fayed told Daily News Egypt in a special statement.
The bank will grant part of these loans on its own, while the remainder will be granted in cooperation with other banks through the syndicated loans it will arrange.
He said the bank signed loan agreements in 2015 worth approximately EGP 7.7bn, half of which were withdrawn by the institutions that obtained these loans, while the rest are being withdrawn consecutively.
The bank is about to sign an agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) over obtaining a loan from it and that it would be directed to fund the small and medium projects.
Fayed refused to reveal the loan’s value, and expects the agreement to be signed within days. He said the volume of the loans portfolio directed to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at Bank Audi Egypt currently amounts to EGP 300m. There is a plan to double the volume of loans presented to that sector several times over the upcoming period.
Bank Audi played a significant role in helping the state to resolve the electricity crisis. It also aims to fund all economic activities, whether large or small.
The bank pumped approximately $130m in electricity projects that were recently carried out, he said. Moreover, the bank is ready to pump more funds in the mega projects that the government is proposing, and will focus more on the SMEs sector, in accordance with the new strategy set out by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
Fayed said the bank achieved an increase of approximately EGP 3.5bn in the companies’ loans portfolio throughout 2015. It does not focus on funding one sector in particular, since no sector obtains more than 15% of total loans.
The most prominent sectors the bank funds are petroleum, energy, roads, transportation, building materials, food, and packing, and other vital sectors.
The bank will soon launch a group of retail banking products, and is currently working on studying several Islamic banking products, to be launched in 2016. The bank is committed to reaching customers everywhere, whether through branches or alternative channels, Fayed noted.
Bank Audi will celebrate its 10th anniversary of operating in the Egyptian market in the first quarter (Q1) of 2016. According to Fayed, the bank is working hard to increase its market share, which currently stands at about 2% of the Egyptian banking sector volume.
The Lebanese Bank Audi Group, the major investor in the bank, completely trusts the Egyptian market. The group expressed its readiness to support the bank in Egypt constantly, especially regarding providing dollars to meet the needs of its customers to help the bank overcome the dollar crisis in the Egyptian market.
