The size of loans to small and medium enterprises' (SMEs) at the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) rose to EGP 18.5bn by the end of 2015, compared to EGP 3bn in 2008, according to NBE Chairman Hisham Okasha. During his participation at the forum hosted by the Union of Arab Banks (UAB) on Thursday, in which pertinent issues were discussed, such as the role of financial institutions in encouraging financial inclusion, as well as stability, and the war against terrorism in Arab states, Okasha explained that this portfolio has doubled six times over the past eight years. "NBE is working to employ more officials to market the SME sector, ideally expanding from 950 officials to 1,450," Okasha said. He added that the bank has 44,000 SME clients, served throughout its 330 branches across Egypt. Okasha further noted that NBE aims to increase the number of these clients, especially as about 2m SMEs operate in the market. Okasha moreover emphasised that the bank is committed to achieving financial inclusion, as well as raising awareness on the banking system and its importance. He pointed out that the bank has 5 million clients, from a total of 8 million Egyptians who deal with the banking sector. Although 50% of NBE's accounts have less than EGP 1,000 in them, the bank nonetheless works to maintain these customers, in the hopes of encouraging them to utilise other banking services. The Central Bank of Egypt's (CBE) decision to reduce the ratio of loans per customer from 20% to 15% will help to address the problem of credit concentration at banks and to increase the number of clients in the banking sector, according to Okasha. "Of 54 million citizens listed on electoral tables who are eligible for bank services, only 8 million of them have bank accounts," he said. He added that the low number of banking system clients is caused by lack of knowledge and familiarity. Okasha praised the CBE and the Federation of Egyptian Banks for their role in spreading awareness about the banking system. As well as being Chairman of NBE, Okasha is also Vice-President of the Federation of Egyptian Banks (FEB). Okasha explained that FEB has been conducting workshops between banks to exchange experience in financing SMEs. He added the FEB also provides orientation programmes to educate citizens, even children, about the banking system.
