Bank Audi-Egypt considers granting loans worth more than EGP 7bn: Fayed

Plans to increase bank's share in Egyptian market and open 7 new branches every year to 2017

Bank Audi-Egypt is considering granting loans worth more than EGP 7bn during the coming period, according to Deputy Chairman and Managing Director, Mohamed Abbas Fayed.
Fayed told Daily News Egypt that some of those loans the bank will grant individually, while others will be syndicated and arranged by the bank.
He added the most prominent sectors the bank considers funding are food, packaging, petroleum, energy, roads, transportation, building materials, and other sectors important to the Egyptian economy and citizens.
According to the deputy chairman, the bank has been in the Egyptian market for eight years now, where it has been seeing very significant growth. Fayed says the bank was ranked 57th among private banks operating in the Egyptian market when it entered the market, and is now in seventh place.
Fayed said the bank is working hard to increase its share in the Egyptian market, which is now up to about 2% of the Egyptian banking sector size.
He added that the Lebanese Bank Audi S.A.L., the main investor in the bank, has full confidence in the Egyptian market, and expressed willingness to support the bank in Egypt permanently. The group is also optimistic about growing and expanding in the Egyptian market, he added.
Bank Audi-Egypt, according to Fayed, represents the driving force of the whole group next to Bank Audi-Turkey.
He said that the capital base of the bank is currently approximately EGP 2.4bn, including retained earnings, noting that the main contributor is committed to increasing capital as required, to cope with the growing size and activity of the bank.
He said that the bank achieved about 20% growth in deposits, loans, and assets to last June. The total deposits portfolio amounted to about EGP 31.5bn, while the loans have reached EGP 15bn, EGP 11.5bn of which are loans for companies, and EGP 3.5bn as retail loans. The volume of the bank's assets amounted to EGP 36.5bn. It has achieved also an after-tax net profit of EGP 302m in the first half of 2015.
Fayed explained that the bank targets achieving growth rates by not be less than 20% in various activities by the end of 2015, especially after changing the work system in the bank, and with a professional work team capable of achieving the bank's goals.
He added that the bank has 34 branches that are well distributed over the country, with an expansion plan of seven new branches per year to 2017.
Fayed mentioned that Bank Audi is one of the four largest banks in the Egyptian market in terms of retail banking, and it is considered as a major arranger for a lot of the syndicated loans to fund the different economic sectors.
According to Fayed, the bank does not focus on financing a specific economic activity or sector, nor does it have an interest in financing corporate sector or retail banking, but it rather seeks to finance various activities of all sizes. The bank also works according to the available opportunities and to the feasibility of the projects that require funding.
Fayed said the bank's small and medium enterprises loans portfolio has amounted to about EGP 300m within seven months, since establishing the sector concerned with funding it.
He added that the bank is considering a comprehensive development of the technological infrastructure, for which the bank has acquired a new technological system from one of the largest international companies in this field.