Egypt's Arab African International Bank (AAIB) reported on Saturday over 13 percent year-on-year growth in profit for the first half of the year. Profit stood at $77.288 million at the end of June 2021, up from $68.121 million at the end of June 2020. Income tax expense rose to $43.503 million at the end of June, compared with $42.688 million in the same period last year. Profit before tax also surged to $120.791 million from $110.809 million last year. Net income from fees and commissions recorded $37.994 million, up from $30.915 million last year. Interest income and similar revenues stood at $435.714 million in the January to June period. Net interest income reached $169.623 million at the end of June from $186.754 million last year. The bank's total assets were $13.934 billion at the end of June 2021, from $14.317 billion at the end of December 2020. Portfolio of loans and advances accounted for $4.745 in June, up from $4.178 billion in December. Customers' deposits stood at around $9.650 billion at the end of June, from $9.771 billion at the end of December 2020. Personal loans rose 14.9 percent to around $269.740 million at the end of June, from $234.602 million at the end of December 2020. Real estate loans also climbed to $125.817 million in June from $117.615 million in December. AAIB was established by special law as a joint venture between the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) and was incorporated in 1964 as Egypt's first Arab multinational bank. With each party holding a 49.37 percent stake, CBE and KIA constitute the core of AAIB's shareholder base with a dollar-based equity.
