Across the Middle East and North Africa, Egypt and its banks boast august credentials when it comes to climate and sustainability. But frameworks and agreements are one thing, creating substantive change across an entire financial sector is quite another.

As European and Chinese banks scale back in Africa to cut costs and redeploy capital to core markets, Middle East lenders are happily jumping in to fill the gap, buying assets and putting more boots on the ground as bilateral trade between the regions increases.

Egypt’s supportive regulation, together with the impact of Covid, saw cashless payments in the country grow by more than 230% last year. Now fintechs, banks and state-owned platforms all want a piece of the action.

Years of tough but successful IMF-led reforms have put Egypt in a great place to rebound strongly from Covid. Its future will be shaped by big infrastructure projects and by a plan to transform the nation into a powerhouse of green finance.

Banque du Caire was on the cusp of completing a $500 million listing in London and Cairo last year when Covid hit. Its chairman Tarek Fayed meets Euromoney to talk about investing in people and digital – and why he still wants to complete a slimmed-down stock sale when conditions allow.

As Gulf banks grapple with squeezed margins, low interest rates and over-banking, Egypt offers the opposite: high interest rates, low lending penetration and a largely unbanked population. It is no surprise that domestic and regional buyers are now circling.

The Egyptian bank is to launch a digital bank as Covid-19 accelerates the government’s push for a cashless society.

As Egypt ramps up measures to contain the coronavirus, CIB chairman Hisham Ezz Al-Arab tells Euromoney how the 2011 revolution has left the bank well prepared to deal with the current crisis.

Egypt’s equity market has been slow to recover to pre-revolution levels, but liquidity is returning and companies are lining up to list.

Mohamed Maait says that Egypt is committed to implementing the much-needed reforms to drive growth, and is pressing ahead with the sale of several state-owned companies, as it looks to agree new terms with the IMF.

This year Egypt’s Commercial International Bank (CIB) wins best bank for corporate responsibility in the Middle East.

Commercial International Bank has opened a representative office in Ethiopia, implementing its programme of expansion into east Africa.

After a tumultuous decade, the country’s leading investment banks have finally recovered their confidence – and are bursting into new markets and products.

Egypt’s private-sector banks have traditionally been wary of lending to SMEs, but now a combination of new technology and central bank pressure is driving some of the country’s most sophisticated lenders to take a fresh look at the segment.

It’s goodbye cash, hello mobile wallets and digital payments, as Egypt uses financial technology to streamline payroll, keep money in the financial system and improve tax collection.

Amr El-Garhy is Egypt’s ninth finance minister in a little over six years – and after a revolution, a coup d’état and last year’s surprise currency flotation, the Egyptian economy is in desperate need of stability. El-Garhy talks to Euromoney about the challenges facing him and the country.

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