National Bank of Egypt (NBE) says it seeks to reduce its portfolio of non-performing loans (NPLs) between 7 billion Egyptian pounds and 7.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($416.9-$446.7 million) at the end of financial year 2019/2020. The largest state-run lender also targets growth rates between 15 percent and 20 percent within the next financial year, its vice chairman Yehia Abul Fotouh said told Amwal Al Ghad on Monday. "The bank's loans registered 530 billion pounds, while customers' deposits hit 1.150 billion pounds at the end of May," Abul Fotouh said on the sidelines of Seamless North Africa FinTech Conference took place in Cairo on June 17-18. NBE's portfolio of NPLs will likely fall this month amid expectations on the U.S. dollar's ongoing decline against the Egyptian pound, Abul Fotouh said, explaining that foreign currencies capture a great share in the bank's NPLs. Seamless North Africa was held under the auspices of Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli, bringing together different players, such as financial institutions, startups, and venture capital. It was meant to assess new techniques and strategies to offer better services for citizens and consumers in the Arab world. Seamless North Africa is a conference organised by Terrapin, under the patronage of the central bank of Egypt in partnership with the Arab Federation of e-commerce (AFEC) and the strategic partner is The Egyptian Banking Institute.
