Banque Misr has submitted a request to the Central Bank of Egypt in order to conduct Ijara (Islamic lease) transactions which is offered exclusively by National Bank for Development. The bank aims at meeting the increasing demand over Islamic banking services, while Murabaha and Mudaraba are the only Islamic services offered in Egypt. Sources told Amwal Al Ghad that the bank has expanded in offering Islamic finance as the lender increased its Islamic branches. In addition, the bank expanded in offering sharia-compliant corporate loans as it contributed in arranging a syndicated loan of more than EGP 1 billion to the Egyptian Factory for Iron. Islamic banking accounted for 7% of Egyptian banking sector in May, up from 5% at the end of 2011. Sharia-compliant finances rose to EGP 60 billion in May, up from EGP 50 billion at the end of 2011. Sharia-compliant deposits rose to EGP 85 billion in May, up from EGP 80 billion at the end of 2011. Experts expected Islamic banking in Egypt to grow by a rate ranging from 15% to 20%, due to the increasing demand on such services regionally and internationally, according to the latest report issued by Egyptian Islamic Finance Association. The report says there are 14 banks with Islamic banking licenses in Egypt; three of which conduct 100% Islamic banking services and 11 of which conduct Islamic banking operations in some of their branches. The report adds that there are 200 Islamic branches and eight Islamic investment funds in Egypt. The latest international statistics about Islamic banking showed that there are 500 Islamic banks with value of assets of US$ 800 billion and 320 commercial banks conducting Islamic banking operations in some branches with total assets of US$ 200 billion in 58 countries.
