IDBE Negotiates With SFD Over EGP 150 Mn Islamic Finance

The Industrial Development and Workers Bank of Egypt is in talks with the Social Fund for Development (SFD) to sign the first Islamic finance contract worth EGP 150 million, after the bank asked the Central Bank of Bank (CBE) for an Islamic banking license, sources said.

The bank plans to expand in providing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) with Murabaha finances so as to tap into the current increasing demand for Islamic banking products.

The bank is also in talks with SFD to sign two contracts worth EGP 125 million for financing SMEs. The first contract is worth EGP 100 million and will go for the debit current account and the second contract is worth EGP 25 million and will go for food industries.

The bank succeeded in increasing SME finance portfolio by 200% to reach EGP 320 million at the end of September, sources said.

Sources revealed that bank reported operating profit of EGP 43 million at the end of last month, compared to EGP 28 million at the end of June 2012.