Egypt's third largest state bank, Banque Du Caire is expecting a 40-45 percent rise in profits this year following a restructuring, its chairman, Mounir El Zahid announced Wednesday. The bank's annual profits have been increasing since it restructured central departments in 2011, with annual profits growing from 44.9 million Egyptian pounds ($5.59 million) in 2011 to 1.268 billion pounds in 2014. "This year we are targeting growth no less than 40-45 percent," El Zahid, who took over the bank in 2011, said in an interview as part of the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit. He also said his bank was looking to expand in 2016 by adding 8 new branches. It currently has 240 branches and units throughout the country, with 7500 employees. Banque Du Caire, which was established in 1952, has a capital of 1.6 billion Egyptian pounds and was focusing on micro-finance as a growth sector, El Zahid said. "We are addressing the segments of society that were not targeted before through micro financing which starts from 5,000 pounds," he said, adding that it controls 48 percent of the micro-financing market with a portfolio of 1.2 billion pounds. "(We will) continue expanding in small and micro-loans during 2016 because they are very important for the country... The future of Egypt is in the small and micro-projects." Egypt's economy has been struggling since a popular uprising ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011, driving tourists and foreign investors away and putting a strain on the country's foreign reserves. Banque Du Caire also plans to increase its share in the car loans market to 28-30 percent of the market from 24 percent. "Since four months ago we have been working with an average of one thousand cars a month. The loan is done in the same day," he said. Source: Reuters
