The top five banks in Egypt accounted for 77.7% of total profits realised by banks operating in the Egyptian market by the end of March 2017, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
In a recent report, the CBE stated that all banks operating in the local market achieved a net profit of EGP 30.516bn. The profits of the five largest banks reached EGP 23.716bn, equivalent to 77.716%.
The top ten banks operating in the Egyptian market posted profits of EGP 26.234bn, equivalent to 85.96% of the total profits of banks.
According to the CBE, these profits were realised for the period from 1 January 2017 to the end of March 2017 for private banks and for the period from 1 July 2016 until the end of March 2017 for government banks.
The CBE did not disclose the names of those five or ten banks; however, the market names the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Commercial International Bank, Banque du Caire, and QNB ALAHLI as the top five banks.
The decision of the CBE to liberalise the exchange rate on 3 November 2016 has positively affected the profits of some of the banks operating in the Egyptian market, which are the banks with capital denominated in US dollars. Meanwhile, the decision had a negative impact on the majority of banks with capital in local currency.
Deputy CBE governor Gamal Negm pointed in previous remarks that the banks operating in the Egyptian market achieved a profit of EGP 56bn in 2016, stressing the strength and solidity of the Egyptian banking sector and its ability to absorb the effects of the decision to float the pound.
Moreover, the CBE noted that the net profit achieved by the banks operating in Egypt until the end of March 2017 reached about EGP 57.445bn. The share of the top ten banks reached EGP 46.721bn, which is equivalent to 81.331%. The top five banks alone accounted for EGP 42.435bn of the profits, which is 73.87% of the total profits of banks in Egypt combined.
The net operating income of the banks reached EGP 75.325bn, with the top ten banks accounting for EGP 60.698bn (80.581%) and the top 5 banks alone denominating EGP 55.099bn, or 73.148%, of the total.
On the other hand, by the end of March 2017, the volume of bank expenses amounted to EGP 44.809bn, of which about EGP 34.464bn belonged to the top ten banks, equivalent to 76.913%, and about EGP 23.716bn belonged to the top 5 banks, equivalent to 77.716%.
