Banks operating in Egypt achieved a net profit of EGP 44.75bn by the end of September 2017, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE). In a recent report, the CBE stated that the top five banks accounted for 46.67% of total profits realised by banks. Collectively, the five banks achieved EGP 20.885bn of net profits. The biggest ten banks posted profits of EGP 28.263bn, equivalent to about 63.159% of total profits. According to the CBE, these profits were realised for the period between 1 January 2017 and the end of September for private banks and for the period from 1 July 2016 until the end of September 2017 for government banks. The CBE did not disclose the names of those five or ten banks; however, the market names the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Commercial International Bank, Banque du Caire and QNB Alahli as the top five banks. Moreover, the CBE said that the total revenues achieved by banks in Egypt in the same period reached EGP 74.608bn, with the top ten banks accounting for EGP 44.059bn (59.054%), and the top five banks alone accounting for EGP 30.955bn, which is equivalent to 41.5% of total revenues. The net operating income of the banks reached EGP 98.926bn, with the top ten banks accounting for EGP 58.576bn (59.211%), and the top five banks alone denominating EGP 41.507bn, or 41.957%, of the total. On the other hand, the volume of bank expenses by the end of September 2017 amounted to EGP 54.177bn, of which about EGP 30.313bn (55.951%) was realised by the top ten banks and EGP 20.624bn (38.067%) by the top five. Recently, there has been considerable interest from banks in the modernising their infrastructure, as well spreading geographically through mini and regular branches, as well as ATMs and POS machines, to reach clients across the republic, which has weighed on expenses.
