The National Bank of Egypt (NBE), the country's biggest state-run bank, closed 2015 as the leading administrative agent of syndicated loans in Egypt, according to Bloomberg's recently released league tables. NBE ranked first on Bloomberg's list as the best bank in managing syndicated loans in Africa and fifth in the Middle East and North Africa region. "NBE achieving such advanced places came as a direct result of its policies in permanent coordination and continuous cooperation with local and foreign banks. It researched financing mega projects, with funding that required arranging syndicated loans among a number of banks," said Mahmoud Montasser – NBE's Vice President. "NBE's financing needs of grand projects would contribute to the creation and promotion of added value of the national economy and provide more job opportunities for young people as well as boost development." During 2015, the banking official said NBE had arranged and managed 17 syndicated loans totalling 65 billion Egyptian pounds (US$8.3 billion), with a 35 percent contribution from the bank, equivalent to 23 billion pounds, he added. NBE has managed and provided several major loans for many projects with high economic feasibility in many vital sectors in Egypt, notably electricity which seized the lion's share of the bank's 2015 total funding. It captured 8.7 billion pounds of NBE's funding in 2015, Montasser said. Coming in the second place, the oil sector obtained NBE funding amounting to 8.14 billion pounds during 2015.
