Egyptian banks fall in First Bank’s top 100 MENA deposit ranking

First Bank’s ranking of the 100 largest banks in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by customer deposits saw notable shifts among Egyptian banks in the first quarter of 2026, with seven of the eight banks included falling in position, while one maintained its ranking.

This coincided with the exit of three Egyptian banks from the list, reducing the number of Egyptian banks represented in the ranking to eight, from eleven at end-2025.

National Bank of Egypt (NBE) retained eighth place in the MENA region by customer deposits, which totalled USD 111.37bn at end-March 2026.

By contrast, the remaining Egyptian banks moved down the ranking, as Banque Misr ranked 19th at end-March 2026, down two places from 17th at end-2025, as the value of its deposits in US dollar terms fell by around 9 per cent quarter-on-quarter to approximately USD 58.02bn, from USD 63.49bn at end-2025.

Commercial International Bank – Egypt (CIB) also fell three places to 41st at end-March 2026, from 38th at end-2025, as the value of its deposits in US dollar terms declined by around 4 per cent during the first quarter of the year to approximately USD 22.19bn, from USD 23.17bn.

Arab African International Bank (AAIB) dropped eight places to 56th at end-March 2026, from 48th at the end of last year, as the value of its deposits in US dollar terms fell by around 7 per cent during the first quarter of the year to approximately USD 13.42bn, from USD 14.40bn.

The decline extended to Banque du Caire, which lost nine places to rank 78th at end-March 2026, from 69th at end-2025, as the value of its deposits in US dollar terms fell by around 7 per cent quarter-on-quarter to USD 7.86bn, from USD 8.41bn.

Suez Canal Bank also fell nine places to 93rd at end-March 2026, from 84th at the end of last year, despite the value of its deposits in US dollar terms declining by only around 4 per cent to USD 4.20bn, from USD 4.38bn.

Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt lost seven places to rank 95th at end-March 2026, from 87th at end-2025, as the value of its deposits in US dollar terms declined by around 3 per cent during the first quarter of the year to USD 3.97bn, from USD 4.09bn.

Meanwhile, ALEXBANK fell six places to 96th at end-March 2026, from 90th at end-2025, as the value of its deposits in US dollar terms declined by around 5 per cent quarter-on-quarter to USD 3.69bn, from USD 3.89bn.

These movements came as Egyptian banks continued to record notable growth in customer deposits in Egyptian pounds.

However, the pound’s depreciation of around 4 per cent against the US dollar in the first quarter of 2026 reduced the US dollar value of deposits when converted from the local currency, putting pressure on banks’ positions in the regional ranking despite continued growth in their local-currency deposit portfolios.

Accordingly, the decline in Egyptian banks’ positions in the ranking does not reflect a contraction in their domestic deposit base. Rather, it was partly driven by the accounting effect of exchange-rate movements on the US dollar value of deposits, as reflected in the first-quarter 2026 results.