Competitiveness Index: ADIB-Egypt vs FABMISR as gap narrows among largest UAE banks

FABMISR has dominated the ranking of UAE banks operating in Egypt by a wide margin for the past four years, bringing the competition back into focus with Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank – Egypt (ADIB-Egypt) under a very different equation from the one that emerged after FABMISR’s acquisition of Bank Audi Egypt in 2022.

The gap, once one of FABMISR’s key advantages, had narrowed to a very slim margin by end-June 2026, as ADIB-Egypt moved close enough in total assets to make the top position increasingly sensitive to any shift in the two banks’ growth trajectories.

A look at how the competition has evolved shows that this is not simply a numerical convergence in asset size, but rather a shift from a phase in which the lead was driven by scale to one increasingly dependent on the ability to achieve sustainable growth.

At end-2021, ADIB-Egypt was ahead of FABMISR by just EGP 1.81 billion, reflecting the close position of the two banks before the major shift triggered by FABMISR’s acquisition of Bank Audi Egypt.

As the impact of the acquisition took full effect, the gap widened sharply to EGP 90.93 billion at end-2022, before expanding further to EGP 98.75 billion in 2023 and EGP 153.87 billion in 2024. It then began to narrow, falling to EGP 140.07 billion at end-2025.

The significance of the latest developments lies in the fact that the narrowing is no longer gradual, but became much sharper in 2026 as the two banks’ assets moved in opposite directions.

FABMISR’s assets fell by around 13.3 per cent in the first half of this year to EGP 419.99 billion at end-June, from EGP 484.22 billion at end-2025, while ADIB-Egypt’s assets rose 19.7 per cent on a half-year basis to EGP 411.85 billion, from EGP 344.15 billion over the same period.

This highlights the most significant point in the current picture: ADIB-Egypt is no longer relying solely on narrowing a historically wide gap, but benefited in H1 2026 from a faster growth rate at a time when its rival’s assets contracted.

This divergence erased most of the gap within a short period and brought the two banks much closer together.

At the same time, the narrowing gap does not mean that FABMISR has lost the scale advantage created by the acquisition. It remains ahead in total assets, while its compound annual growth rate from end-2021 to June 2026 stood at around 41.7 per cent, compared with 40.4 per cent for ADIB-Egypt.

The close growth rates indicate that the two banks have relatively similar capacity for long-term expansion and that the wide gap that emerged after 2022 was primarily linked to the leap generated by the acquisition rather than a fundamental and persistent difference in growth rates.

The current competitive equation has therefore become more complex: FABMISR retains the advantage of scale, while ADIB-Egypt has the stronger recent growth momentum.

If this divergence continues, the remaining gap will not be large enough to provide the leader with a wide safety margin. By contrast, a return by FABMISR to a stronger growth trajectory could rebuild the gap.

The results for the first nine months of 2026 will therefore be more than another milestone in the two banks’ asset ranking.

The nine-month 2026 results will test whether the shift seen in the first half is sustainable. If ADIB-Egypt maintains its strong growth pace, it could move beyond narrowing the gap to overtake FABMISR and claim the lead among UAE banks in Egypt. FABMISR, meanwhile, will need to regain growth momentum to preserve the advantage it has held since acquiring Bank Audi Egypt.

The competition between largest UAE banks operating in Egypt is therefore entering a more open phase. The wide lead seen in previous years has largely disappeared, leaving the top position increasingly dependent on each bank’s ability to sustain growth. The coming period will be crucial in determining whether the current ranking holds or a new leader emerges.