National Bank of Egypt (NBE), the country's largest state bank, reported a 36 percent rise in profit in the financial year 2014/15 to 5.091 billion Egyptian pounds ($569 million), its finance chief told Amwal Al Ghad Tuesday. Profits in the financial year 2013/14 were 3.747 billion pounds. Hussein Al Rifai, Chief Finance Officer, further said the general assembly endorsed earlier Tuesday the bank's profits and financial statements for the financial year 2014/15 ended on June 30, 2015. The assembly approved a proposal to retain profits, aiming to boost the shareholders' equity and plans to expand financially in the future, the banking official added. "The bank's total assets surged 14 percent to 520 billion pounds by the end of June 2015." Rifai said. In addition, NBE also posted a 25 percent growth in its portfolio of loans and credit facilities, triggered by the lender's approach to expand into financing projects than to investing in debt government debt tools, he stated. The portfolio hit 156 billion pounds by the end of June 2015, up from 125 billion pounds in the same period a year earlier. Customers' deposits also hiked 14 percent to 448 billion pounds versus 393 billion pounds. Moreover, Rifai said NBE witnessed a greater presence by recording a network of branches amounting to 292 by end of June 2015 versus 278 a year earlier.
