Bank Audi Egypt seeks to increase SMEs loan portfolio to EGP 5 billion by 2019 end, the local media reported. Its plan is in line with the Central Bank of Egypt’s SME initiative.
Bank Audi is one of the major players in Egypt’s banking sector. It showed a total retail finance of EGP 7.3 billion at the end of September 2019, accounting for 26 percent of the total loans and facilities portfolio. This portfolio recorded EGP 28.1 billion during the same period. Currently, Bank Audi’s outstanding loans to SMEs stands at EGP 3 billion.
The Central Bank of Egypt’s five percent SME lending initiative was launched in 2015. It expects banks to increase SME loans on their portfolios by 20 percent by 2020.
The Central Bank of Egypt is fully committed to digitisation. In this context, Audi Bank has collaborated with various international professional services firms to establish a medium-term digital strategy to make further progress.
In November, the Commercial International Bank (CIB) Egypt launched a comprehensive loan programme comprising products and services for SMEs. The bank aims to promote SME growth and expansion in Egypt.
Rashwan Hammady, head of Business Banking at CIB, told the media that, “We fully understand what these segments want to grow and by extending this comprehensive loan structure to them, we hope to offer a holistic package of products and that feed directly into their growth story, which is part and parcel of our strategy to align with Egypt’s national growth story as well.”