Faisal Islamic Bank will participate in the Central Bank of Egypt's (CBE) mortgage finance initiative, the bank's chairman, Mohammed bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, said Saturday. CBE announced in February that it had allocated EGP 10bn ($1.44bn) to finance low-income housing projects, with the aim of boosting the construction and real estate sectors. The money will be sent to banks, in the form of deposits, over a period of 20 years at low interest rates. Low-income citizens who qualify to benefit from the programme will be lent the money at yearly interest rate of 7% to 8%. Al Saud's remarks came during a Saturday meeting between him and interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb, attended by governor of Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt Abdulhamid Aboumoussa, in order to review the bank's financial, commercial and investment activities in Egypt, according to a cabinet statement. During the meeting, they also discussed the possibility of participating in industrial, urban and economic development projects. Al Saud said that the deposit growth in Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt averages from 7% to 10% year on year. The bank, which has operated in Egypt since 1979 through more than 30 branches nationwide, will inaugurate new branches in Cairo's Shubra neighbourhood and the Qena and Ismailia governorates. Faisal Islamic Bank was ranked the fourth in a Forbes evaluation of Egyptian banks in October, the only Islamic bank of the 39 on the list, with $206.1m in revenues and $91.7m in profits during the 2012/2013 fiscal year. However, Islamic banking remains unpopular in Egypt, with only 3% of adults using Islamic banking services and only 49% of adults even having heard of the service, a Gallup survey issued in January showed.
