Egypt ranked first in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in the number of start-up investment deals, according to Mohamed Omran, Chairperson of the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA). Omran added that Egypt has placed second in terms of financing values granted to these companies, according to a report by MAGNiTT, the largest data platform in the Middle East. “The capital market in Egypt maintained its performance in relation to the value of securities issued in the primary market, amounting to more than EGP 162bn,” Omran said. “Taking into consideration the issues of nominal value adjustment, capital reduction and bond issues, the value reached more than EGP 220bn compared to EGP 214.8bn last year.” He added that the value of securitisation bond issuances reached over EGP 22bn in 2019. Omran said that this is an important indicator of its use by companies as a source of financing through the Egyptian capital market and Egyptian Exchange. It is also four-folds the value of the highest securitisation record in the history of Egypt's money market. The insurance sector witnessed an increase in activity during 2019, as the total premiums increased 19.3% to EGP 35.2bn in 2019 compared to EGP 29.5bn in 2018. Private insurance funds investments amounted to about EGP 75bn in 2019 compared to EGP 67bn in 2018, marking an increase of 11.9%. The volume of financing granted by real estate mortgage financing companies during 2019 increased by nearly 18.2%, to reach EGP 2.6bn, up from the EGP 2.2bn reported in 2018. Financial leasing witnessed a significant increase, as the value of contracts reached nearly EGP 56bn in 2019, compared to nearly EGP 42bn in 2018, growing by 34.1%. As for factoring activity, it has maintained its performance, as the volume of securities amounted to nearly EGP 10.6bn in 2019, remaining almost the same to 2018 figures. The volume of microfinancing reached EGP 16.5bn compared to EGP 11.5bn in 2018, an increase of 43.5%. The value of moveable collateral reached EGP 635.4bn at the end of 2019, compared to EGP 465.2bn at the end of 2018, marking an increase of 36.6%.
