The extraordinary general meeting of BLOM Bank Egypt approved the use of EGP 300m of its 2017 profits to raise the bank's issued and paid-up capital to EGP 2bn, up from EGP 1.7bn, an increase of 17.6%. The decision was made to support the bank's financial position and increase its capital adequacy ratio and capital base. Last week, BLOM Egypt held a press conference to reveal its results for 2017. The conference was attended by Saad Azhari, chairperson and managing director of BLOM Bank and Mohamed Ozalp, managing director and CEO of BLOM Bank Egypt. During the conference, Azhari pointed to the growth of the assets of BLOM Egypt Bank—which is owned by BLOM Bank—to about $2bn, stressing that the successes achieved by the bank in Egypt reflect the boom in the Egyptian economy in terms of growth, capital flows, and foreign reserves, as well as control of the fiscal deficit and stability in the exchange rate. According to Ozalp, the profits of BLOM Egypt during the year 2017 increased to EGP 702m, an increase of 30% compared to 2016. Customer and bank loans increased by 29.35% to EGP 12.03bn. Deposits increased by 23.77% to EGP 30.2bn, up EGP 6.6bn over 2016. Return on average equity (ROAE) in December 2017 scored 31.6%, up from 31.1% in December 2016, while return on average assets (ROAA) posted 2.1%, down from 2.3%. He added that the capital adequacy ratio was 15.9 in December 2017 compared to 13.85% in December 2016, which confirms the adequacy of the capital base and the bank's ability to grow in various business sectors. He pointed out that the bank's growth in its loans portfolio was the result of the development of its products, services, and retail banking. BLOM Egypt achieved 37.1% growth in its corporate credit portfolio, 17.2% growth in its retail banking portfolio, and 55% growth in its mortgage portfolio. He added that his portfolio of small and medium enterprise loans reached 20.1% of the bank's credit portfolio by the end of 2017. Thus, the bank has achieved the rate set by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), which banks should reach by the end of 2019. Moreover, the bank has also expanded its real estate finance initiative for low-income individuals, reaching a total of 1,000 customers, with total financing of EGP 120m, and has been approved to increase the amount allocated to this financing from EGP 200m to EGP 400m. Ozalp also said that the bank has also developed its electronic channels in order to attract new customers and provide them banking services with simple procedures and lower cost as soon as possible. He pointed out that the first phase of the development of the internet banking service and the development of ATMs has been launched by adding new services such as deposits, transfers, changing PINs, and short statements of account. He pointed out that the technological structure of the bank is one of the most important areas that the bank is studying and plans to improve, to include digital upgrades and blockchain technology, noting that the bank implemented the planned strategy for the development of computer systems. According to Ozalp, the bank is working on several projects to develop its technological services, including the launch of the bank's mobile service, the launch of the bank's portfolio in partnership with Fawry e-payment services company. The bank also contracted to purchase a new profitability measuring system. He pointed out that the bank's branches reached 37 by end-2017. A new branch was opened in March 2018. Two other branches are being planned for the second quarter of this year. Two more branches are currently under construction to be opened by the end of the third quarter. This will bring the total number of branches to 42 by end-2018. "BLOM Bank Egypt has taken part in the development of Egyptian society in the belief that it should play an active role in sustainable development. The bank's total contributions in this area in 2017 amounted to EGP 11.93m," Ozalp concluded.
