Chairperson of the Egyptian Arab Land Bank (EALB), Amr Kamal, announced he will leave his post in the bank due to health issues.
Kamal also informed the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Tarek Amer, of his resignation, according to the bank’s official statement.
Kamal suffered from a severe heart condition, for which he subsequently had to be hospitalised, and he was absent from the bank for a period of time last month, tight-lipped to ensure the bank’s stability, its series of successes, and so not to create confusion among the bank staff.
Kamal was appointed by the Egyptian Prime Minister in October 2017.
The EALB revealed its performance indicators from the past two years, when Kamal took over the bank’s presidency, before delivering his apology for continuing in his position this evening, for his health issues.
The bank’s management contributed to switching the bank into profitability within two years, according to figures issued by the EALB and the CBE.
The EALB explained that its loans portfolio rose by about EGP 8.5bn to EGP 13.7bn at the end of October, 2019, compared to EGP 5.2bn in September 2017, and its deposit portfolio increased to EGP 44.6bn from EGP 24.2bn in the comparison period.
Under Kamal’s chairmanship, the bank succeeded in developing its corporate identity and redeploying strongly in the banking sector, through issuing new retail banking products for the first time in the bank’s history, besides developing the IT network and developing the internal and external branch network.
Regarding the bank’s assets, it witnessed asset sales of EGP 1.027bn from October 2017 until October 2019, although their book value was estimated at EGP 796m, making EGP 231m profits.
It also reduced its non-performing portfolio by EGP 2.6bn to EGP 3.7bn in October 2019, down from EGP 6.1bn in September 2017.
The bank’s individual loan portfolio increased to about EGP 1bn in October, compared to EGP 171m at the end of December 2018.
At the same time, the bank’s treasury bills and bonds portfolio increased from EGP 4.1bn to EGP 12.9bn.
The EALB has also developed its Hurghada Long Beach Resort and Long Beach Elsokhna, which is expected to be sold to one of the major investment institutions within the next few months for about EGP 1bn.
In addition, the bank has expanded financing to new investment activities, such as fertilizer, gas, oil, and agricultural projects, which will attract more than 121 new corporate clients, with direct and indirect credit facilities amounting to EGP 9bn, out of an authorised total grant of EGP 13.4bn.
Such a step contributed to the bank’s acquisition of several awards, including the best developing bank in the corporate credit in Egypt in 2019 for the first time, as well as the best donor bank in mortgage financing in Egypt in 2018, the best retail bank in Jordan 2019, and also the best TV advertising campaign in Ramadan 2019.
