United Bank of Egypt’s loan portfolio rises 15% by May-end: chairman

United Bank of Egypt’s loan portfolio increased 15 percent to around 13 billion Egyptian pounds ($774.6 million) at the end of May, its chairman and managing director Ashraf Elkady announced on Monday.

“The financing process of small and medium-sized projects captured 22 percent of the loan portfolio to value at 2.6 billion pounds,” Elkady said on the sidelines of Seamless North Africa FinTech Conference taking place on June 17-18 for the second year in row.

The portfolio of the third largest bank varies between syndicated loans of 2 billion pounds and mortgage finance of 305 million pounds, including 250 million pounds for low-income citizens, he added.

“the mortgage finance portfolio is expected to reach about 400 million pounds at the end of this year,” Elkady said.

Moreover, customers’ deposits of the bank also recorded 34 billion pounds at the end of May, marking an eight percent growth, ElKady added.

United Bank was founded in 2006 when Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) merged three banks facing bankruptcy at the time- the Islamic Bank for Development, and Investment, the Nile Bank and the United Egyptian- to protect depositors.

Seamless North Africa is being held under the auspices of Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli, bringing together different players, such as financial institutions, startups, and venture capital.

It is meant to assess new techniques and strategies to offer better services for citizens and consumers in the Arab world.

Seamless North Africa is a conference organised by Terrapin, under the patronage of the central bank of Egypt in partnership with the Arab Federation of e-commerce (AFEC) and the strategic partner is The Egyptian Banking Institute.