Egypt's biggest state-run bank, the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) reported a 25 percent growth in profit before taxation during the first six months of current fiscal year. The bank has posted profit before taxation worth 4.9 billion Egyptian pounds (US$642 million); whereas profit after taxation had reached 2.3 billion pounds. In addition, the Egyptian lender said in a statement the return on net income surged by 28 percent to 6.6 billion pounds, while fees and commissions hiked by 10 percent to 1.3 billion pounds by the end of December 2014. According to the bank's financial statement, the total Shareholders' Funds hit 25.9 billion pounds. NBE's total financial position grew by 14.2 billion approximately to 470.7 billion pounds, compared to 456.5 billion pounds in June 2014. Stemming from its importance to the national economy, NBE has adopted multiple initiatives to support the small and medium-sized enterprises and create new job opportunities. An amount of 3.5 billion pounds was injected into the SME sector during the first six months of the current fiscal year, resulting in recording an 8 percent growth in NBE's total SME loan portfolio to eventually hit 134.2 billion pounds by December-end. At NBE, retail banking has witnessed the development and upgrading of existing products, seeking to increase customers' confidence in the bank. Accordingly, NBE's total retail loan portfolio climbed by 10% totaling 28.9 billion pounds as at December 2014. Moreover, total deposits rose by 10 billion pounds to reach 403.3 billion pounds at December 2014, versus 393.3 billion as of June 2014.
