Suez Canal Bank profits exceed EGP 0.5 bn for 1st time

10 / 03 / 2020

By Ahmed Abdel Qawi - - | Edited by Marwa Nassar

Board Chairman of the Suez Canal Bank Hussein Refaei said the bank’s profits have for the first time in its history surpassed EGP 0.5 billion in view of the remarkable progress realized in various sectors of the bank over 2019.

2019 marked a turning point in the bank’s march in view of the financial indicators of the bank’s performance, he said, noting that a series of achievements were accomplished over 2019 to underscore the bank’s efficiency.

He also referred to restructuring various sectors of the bank, noting that the bank’s board exerted non-stop efforts for the bank to occupy its position among top banks.

He said several services were launched, especially in the retail sector and small and medium sized enterprises.

Moreover, the bank was keen to cope with technological development with regard to digital transformation and infrastructure development in order to strengthen the bank’s financial performance over the coming few years.

Commitment to supporting customers:

Refaei said these results attest to the success of the bank’s strategy which gave top priority to customer satisfaction, noting that the bank focused on improving quality of services as well as promoting innovation, financial inclusion and use of up-to-date technology.

Such impressive achievements mark a turning point that would help the bank occupy its position among pioneering banks.

Bank’s growth rates surpass 2019 target:

Refaei said the bank managed to realize growth rates which exceeded its target in 2019 and this proves that the bank would be able to continue achieving significant progress.

The surge of the bank’s financial indicators crowns the efforts exerted by the bank’s team to put into effect the bank’s ambitious strategy and achieve tangible results.

He added “the bank’s financial status indicator rose by 10 percent by the end of December 2019 to stand at EGP 52 billion, while loans portfolio marked a 14 percent uptick registering about EGP 15.4 billion. Deposits also leapfrogged by 14 percent recording EGP 44 billion in December 2019 against EGP 39 billion in December 2018. The investment protfolio stood at EGP 10 billion by the end of 2019 against EGP 4 billion in 2018.

The growth rate of the bank’s surplus profit stood at 29% at the end of 2019, thus contributing to upping return on equity (ROE) to 16.4 percent, he said, attributing this to a 29.4 percent uptick of net return on revenue in addition to a rise of 32.7 percent in returns of banking fees and commissions, 35.6 percent in operating income and 38.2 percent in earnings before interest and taxes.

Financing national projects:

Within the framework of the bank’s pioneering role in funding projects that positively affect the Egyptian economy in general and the banking sector in particular, more customers from the major companies sector joined the bank.

The bank financially supported industrial development companies which operate in the Suez Canal Economic Zone and work on encouraging national and foreign investments to the zone.

Growth rate of direct loans stood at 11.1 percent as total direct loans to companies registered EGP 7.9 billion by the end of December 2019 against EGP 7.1 percent in the corresponding period in 2018.

Syndicated loans portfolio climbed by 14.9 percent by the end of 2019 to about EGP 5.7 billion against EGP 4.9 billion by the end of 2018.

Leap in funding SMEs:

Believing in the key role played by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in realizing economic development and positively affecting the society, the bank managed in a brief period to engage in several initiatives for funding SMEs, he said, noting that the bank established in the beginning of 2018 a special department for SMEs.

He said SMEs portfolio rose to EGP 1.2 billion for direct and indirect funding at the end of 2019, marking a 95 percent uptick in comparison with 2018.

In 2019, the bank launched the first specialized program for bankrolling small ventures; namely the program for funding pharmacies.

Remarkable development in retail banking sector:

Refaei said the bank witnessed a breakthrough in retail services in 2019 and this contributed to upping loans and facilities offered to individuals to stand at EGP 752 million at a 69 percent rise in comparison with 2018. Personal loans portfolio shot up to EGP 494 million at the end of 2019 at a 278 percent uptick in comparison with 2018.

In 2019, the bank launched several new services under its ambitious development plan, topped by giving the go-ahead of the contactless payment systems ( for both credit cards and debit cards) in addition to Meeza Card which is part of the bank’s efforts to support the government drive towards financial inclusion and transition to a cashless society. The bank also launched a project on transferring salaries to prepaid cards.

Working on improving customer services, the bank’s call center managed over the past year to launch several new services, including electronic activation and deactivation of cards, travel notifications and changing passwords of various accounts. This would help customers smoothly get all needed services.