Commercial International Bank (CIB), Egypt's biggest private bank by assets, said a surge in non-interest income helped first-quarter consolidated net income grow 12 percent, beating forecasts. The board of directors approved a doubling of the bank's paid-in capital to LE 5.9 billion ($1.05 billion) through a dividend of one share for every share held, the bank said in an emailed statement. "The bank is moving with obtaining approvals from all the relevant authorities," the statement said, adding that dates and details of the dividend would be announced once the approvals were obtained. Net profit in the first quarter of 2010 was LE 528.8 million, up from LE 472.0 million in the first quarter of 2009. Net fee and commission income leapt to LE 214.2 million from LE 151.8 million. Net loans and overdraughts for customers rose to LE 29.34 billion as of March 31 from LE 27.24 billion on Dec. 31, while customer deposits increased to LE 58.16 billion from LE 54.65 billion. The analysts had predicted mean net loans of LE 29.05 billion and mean customer deposits of LE 56.99 billion.
