Al Baraka Bank Egypt, part of Bahraini Islamic lender Al Baraka Group, said on Tuesday its board had chosen Hazem Hegazy, executive vice chairman of Banque du Caire, to be the bank's new vice chairman and chief executive. Hegazy's appointment as CEO and vice chairman of Al Baraka Egypt still requires approval by the Egyptian central bank and his start yet to be decided, the bank further said in a bourse filling. He will succeed Ashraf El-Ghamrawy, who submitted his resignation – effective October 1. Hegazy brings to the role over 27 years of experience in retail and SME banking across Egypt and the GCC and is highly skilled in risk management, banking, and operations. He has been executive vice chairman at Banque du Caire since 2018. He currently holds a position on the board of Al Nasr Housing and Development Company in Egypt. Before joining Banque du Caire, Hegazy was CEO of Retail and SMEs at the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) for two years where he managed 390 branches and over 10,000 members of staff, set up business strategies, and conducted high-level deals with international financial institutions. Hegazy was also chief executive of the Egypt division Network International, a UAE-based payment solutions provider, where he led on strategy creation and streamlining operations and profitability. Prior to that, he was the Consumer Banking Group Head at Barclays Bank in Egypt where he managed the bank's retail and branch network solutions. Six years earlier, Hegazy served as the Group Head of the Retail and Branch Group at the NBE, where he restructured and the retail business, built up key alternative channels like the call centre, drove strategy on product development, sales, services, and more. From 2007 to 2008, Hegazy held the position of VP Head of Retail Banking at the Arab Bank. From 2005 to 2007, he was Head of Distribution – Retail Banking at Al Ahli United Bank in Qatar, where he recommended changes that bolstered the bank's performance and developed key relationships with partners that helped maximise market share. Hegazy also worked with the Union National Bank as AVP Operations Risk Manager where he was integral to the bank's risk management strategies. He was also Manager of Asset Sales with the UAE division of Standard Chartered Bank. He started his banking career with Mashreq Bank where he held numerous posts bookended with a position of Branch Manager.
