Mohamed Al-Beltagy — President of the Egyptian Association for Islamic Finance — said that the volume of Islamic banking in Egypt recorded EGP 443bn by the end of June — an increase of EGP 52.8bn and a growth rate of 13.5% from June 2021.
He pointed out that the volume of Islamic banking represents about 5% of the total size of the Egyptian banking market as a whole.
The Egyptian banking market includes 14 banks that have a license from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to provide Islamic banking products, and there are three fully Islamic banks — namely Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt, Al-Baraka Bank Egypt, and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Egypt — in addition to 11 banks that have Islamic branches alongside their traditional ones.
Al-Beltagy explained in a recent report issued by the association that the Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt came in first in the Islamic banking market in Egypt with a business volume of EGP 138.3bn, accounting for 31.3% of the total industry.
In second place, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Egypt achieved a turnover of EGP 98.7bn and a share of 22.3%. And in third place was Banque Misr’s Islamic branches with a turnover of EGP 91.6bn and a share of 20.7%, followed by Al-Baraka Bank in fourth place with a business volume of EGP 82.8bn and a share of 18.7%.
According to Al-Beltagy, the volume of deposits conforming to Islamic law in the Egyptian market amounted to about EGP 360.2bn by the end of the first half (1H) of 2022 — an increase of EGP 17bn and a growth rate of 5% compared to 1H 2021.
He explained that Islamic deposits represent about 6.3% of the total volume of deposits in the Egyptian banking market, pointing out that the increase in those deposits was concentrated by 88% in Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt’s branches with a value of EGP 6bn, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Egypt with EGP 7bn, and the Islamic branches of Banque Misr at EGP 2bn.
He added that the volume of Islamic Sharia-compliant financing in the Egyptian market recorded about EGP 348.5bn — an increase of EGP 52.4bn and a growth rate of 17.7% — pointing out that this form of financing represents about 5% of the volume of financing in the Egyptian banking market.
Al-Beltagy also pointed out that the increase in Islamic finance was concentrated by 96% in Faisal banks at a value of EGP 13bn, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank EGP 19bn, and the Islamic branches of Banque Misr EGP 18bn.
Furthermore, the number of Islamic branches in Egyptian banks reached 247, representing about 5.6% of the total number of branches in the Egyptian banking market and serving more than 3.2 million customers.
He added that the Egyptian market has witnessed the development of many Islamic banking products, which exceed 60 banking products and services, stressing that the market still needs to develop and innovate many Sharia-compliant products, whether for the individual, corporate, or small and medium enterprises sector.
El-Beltagy also indicated that the size of the Islamic banking industry worldwide amounted to more than $3.5 trillion by the end of June 2022, according to international reports issued in this regard, and it is expected to reach about $4 trillion by the end of 2022.
