The Industrial Development and Workers Bank of Egypt's finances to small and medium enterprises reached EGP 325 million at the end of last October, compared to EGP 144 million at the end of 2011. The bank targets to inject EGP 50 million to the SME finance portfolio to reach EGP 375 million before the end of 2012, said Hamdy Azzam, member of the board of directors at the bank. The bank plans to sign two finance agreements worth EGP 125 million with the Social Fund for Development (SFD) by the beginning of 2013. The first contract is worth EGP 100 million and will go for the debit current account and the second contract is worth EGP 25 million and will go for food industries. The bank's SME non-performing loan portfolio ranges between 3% and 5% and the lender is in talks with defaulters in order to reach debt settlement agreements. The bank conducts negotiations with SFD to sign the first Islamic finance contract worth EGP 150 million, as the bank had asked the Central Bank of Bank (CBE) for an Islamic banking license last month, sources said. The bank plans to expand in providing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with Murabaha finances so as to tap into the current increasing demand for Islamic banking products.
