The global turmoil of 2022 posed a severe test for Banque Misr and its more than 10 million customers. The one-two punch of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the foreign-currency crunch caused by surging inflation sent Egypt to the IMF.
Banque Misr’s chief executive, Mohamed El-Etreby, and his management team have taken the hits in their stride. The Islamic banking portfolio grew by 31% in 2022 year on year. Its Shariah-compliant business in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, corporate credit and syndicated loans all grew as well.
Banque Misr’s Islamic retail banking portfolio increased by around 13.5% in 2022 year on year. The bank has grown its credit-card franchise, as well as its wide range of Murabaha products. These include financing for car purchases, durable goods, educational tuition and tourism, including Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage trips.
The bank’s Islamic branches provide insurance products in partnership with the Egyptian Tukaful Life Insurance Company.
Banque Misr still enjoys a first-mover advantage in the online microfinance Murabaha space in coordination with the nation’s Shariah supervisory authority. Growing the market is important not only to the bank’s bottom line but also to economic development in Egypt more broadly.
This provides opportunities to showcase Banque Misr’s digital capability. Its platform allows entrepreneurs seeking Murabaha for financing small projects to submit requests virtually. On average, Murabaha is obtained within five days.
Banque Misr’s online platforms are steadily simplifying the process of accessing short-term working capital facilities, medium- and long-term facilities that finance capital expenditures, capital for big projects, syndicated loans, acquisition finance and letters of credit and guarantee.
Banque Misr has also played a pivotal role in helping to drive innovation in the broader industry. In 2020, it established the pioneering Misr Digital Innovation platform. This solidified Banque Misr’s status at the vanguard of digital disruption in Egyptian banking.
Banque Misr is a one-stop-shop for Islamic corporate and investment clients
To ensure digital transformation remains in the bank’s DNA, El-Etreby’s team opened a transformation office in 2020. Its charge is to drive forward the bank’s multi-channel digital strategy in key areas: transforming the bank’s internal culture; reimagining Egypt’s biggest branch network; accelerating capacity-building policies; and honing the bank’s digital factory unit that brainstorms on the direction of technological change.
Banque Misr’s scale and reputation leave it well positioned to lead, arrange and underwrite transactions of all sizes. It is a one-stop-shop for Islamic corporate and investment clients.
Its 800-plus branch network gives it reach to all corners of the country. This provides access to the bank’s product lines as well as those of affiliates and subsidiaries CI Capital, Misr Capital, BM Lease and Corplease.
