The Egyptian Association for Islamic Finance revealed that the volume of Islamic banking in Egypt reached EPG 434bn by the end of March, constituting about 5% of the size of the Egyptian banking market — an increase of EGP 55.2bn and a growth rate of 14.6% compared to March 2021.
Mohamed Al-Beltagy — Head of the Association — said that the Islamic banking market in Egypt includes 14 banks that have a license from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to provide Islamic banking products.
There are three fully Islamic banks in the country — namely Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt, Al-Baraka Bank Egypt, and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank in Egypt — in addition to 11 banks that have Islamic banking branches, along with the traditional branches, bringing the total to 248.
In a report by the association, Al-Beltagy explained that Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt came in first place in the Islamic banking market in Egypt with a turnover of EGP 137bn, constituting a 31.7% share of the Islamic banking industry in Egypt.
The Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank in Egypt came in second place with a turnover of EGP 93.9bn and a share of 21.7%. Next is Banque Misr’s Islamic transactions with a turnover of EGP 89bn and a share of 20.6%, while Al-Baraka Bank came in fourth with a turnover of EGP 82.2bn and a share of 19%.
According to Al-Beltagy, the volume of Islamic deposits at the end of March 2022 amounted to EGP 355.4bn, which constitutes about 6.8% of the total volume of deposits in the Egyptian banking market as a whole, with an increase of EGP 42bn and a growth rate of 13.4% compared to March 2021.
He added that the increase was concentrated by 96% in Faisal Bank with an increase of EGP 15.5bn, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank with an increase of EGP 13.7bn, Banque Misr’s Islamic branches with an increase of EPG 6bn, and Al-Baraka Bank with an increase of EGP 4bn.
Furthermore, he said that the volume of financing in Islamic formulas amounted to EGP 342.4bn at the end of March 2022, which constitutes 5.3% of the volume of financing in the Egyptian banking market, with an increase of EGP 44.7bn and a growth rate of 15% compared to March 2021.
In a related context, Al-Beltagy expects the Egyptian market to witness the issuance of the state’s first sovereign sukuk bonds before the end of the second quarter (2Q) of this year after the completion of the State Sukuk Law and adopting its executive regulations.
He pointed out that five corporate sukuks were already issued with a value of EGP 11.3bn by March after the Corporate Sukuk Law and its executive regulations were issued at the end of 2018.
He also explained that at the beginning of 2022, a set of sukuk bonds were issued to Palm Hills with a value of EGP 3.5bn, and the company is expected to issue sukuk worth nearly EGP 10bn, adding that about three new issuances are currently being considered.
