Five banks acquired 59.6% of the total assets’ size of the Egyptian banking sector, in which 40 banks operate, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
In its quarterly report, the CBE stated that banks operating in the local market held EGP 2.485tn in total assets as of the end of December, of which approximately EGP 1.481tn assets were held by the largest five banks operating in the market.
The report added that the largest 10 banks operating in Egypt hold approximately 72.358% of the total assets in the banking sector, an asset volume of about EGP 1.798tn.
While the CBE did not disclose the names of the top five or ten banks, Daily News Egypt has learned that the list of the top five banks in terms of assets’ size includes the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, the Commercial International Bank, Qatar National Bank Al-Ahli, and the Banque Du Caire.
The five banks that make up the remainder of the top ten include, the Arab African International Bank, HSBC Egypt, AlexBank, Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt, and Crédit Agricole Egypt.
Banking customers had deposited EGP 1.383tn in the 10 largest banks in Egypt at the end of December, which represents 72.47% of the total customer deposit volume. Customer’s total volume of deposits reached EGP 1.908tn.
The five largest banks held EGP 1.13tn, a 59.218% share of the total deposit volume.
The CBE also reported that the 10 largest banks in the marketed had collected approximately 67.68% of the balances of loans and discounts offered to the customers by the end of December.
The report showed that the size of these balances reached about EGP 791.499bn by the end of 2015. The share of the largest 10 banks reached about EGP 353.716bn, while the five largest banks acquired 54.264% of the total of these balances, a share which amounted to about EGP 429.5bn.
The CBE’s report showed also that the top ten banks acquired about 79.05% of the total banking sector’s investments in securities and government treasury bills.
The portfolio of these investments at banks together amount to about EGP 1.105tn. The share of the top 10 banks amounted to EGP 874.053bn, while the share of the largest five banks amounted to EGP 750.103bn, an estimated 67.84%.
As for the size of the bonds and long-term loans at banks, the CBE said their balance reached EGP 43.556bn by the end of December. The share of the top 10 banks reached EGP 27.657bn, an estimated 63.497%, while the share of the largest five banks reached EGP 26.736bn, an estimated 61.383%.
The capital of the 10 largest banks in Egypt amounted to about EGP 56.149bn as of the end of December 2015, which represents 58.204% of the capital of the 40 banks operating in the Egyptian market, amounting to EGP 96.468bn.The capital of the five largest banks amounted to EGP 48.696bn, an estimated 50.478%, according to the CBE.
The CBE added that the 10 largest banks operating in the local market compiled provisions amounting to EGP 38.751bn in order to face bad debt, an estimated 58.206% of the total provisions in the banking sector as a whole, which amounts to EGP 66.575bn.
The five largest banks immunised themselves against bad debt by composing provisions amounting to EGP 30.181bn, an estimated 45.333% of total bank provisions.
In order to counter any surprises in the future, banks working in the local market compiled reserves worth EGP 44.751bn at the end of December, of which EGP 36.234bn are reserved in the top 10 banks, which marks an estimated 80.968% of their value, and about EGP 24.897bn in the largest 5 banks, an estimated 55.634%.
