Retail Index: Attijariwafa’s five-year growth lifts loan portfolio quality

Attijariwafa bank Egypt’s retail banking business recorded substantial growth over the past five years, combining an expansion in retail lending and deposits with improved credit quality, reflecting progress in both the scale of operations and the bank’s risk indicators.

The bank’s retail loan portfolio grew 149.7 per cent over the period under review, reaching EGP 14.60bn at end-June 2026, compared with EGP 5.85bn at end-June 2021.

The increase of EGP 8.76bn brought the portfolio to approximately 2.5 times its level five years earlier, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.1 per cent.

Deposit growth was even stronger. Retail deposits rose 173.6 per cent to EGP 52.27bn at end-June 2026, from EGP 19.10bn at end-June 2021, an increase of EGP 33.16bn and a CAGR of 22.3 per cent, strengthening the bank’s funding base and its capacity to support business expansion.

Improved credit quality emerged as a defining feature of the bank’s performance. The retail non-performing loan (NPL) ratio declined to 0.68 per cent at end-June 2026, from 1.93 per cent at end-June 2021, an improvement of approximately 1.25 percentage points.

Based on the outstanding balances corresponding to these ratios, non-performing retail loans fell to EGP 99.90mn from approximately EGP 112.96mn, despite the substantial expansion in the overall portfolio.

This reinforces the significance of the improvement, indicating that the lower NPL ratio was not merely a consequence of loan growth.

Despite this expansion, retail banking’s relative weight within the bank’s overall business declined.

Retail loans accounted for 18.1 per cent of total customer loans at end-June 2026, down from 25.3 per cent at end-June 2021, while retail deposits represented 38.9 per cent of total customer deposits, compared with 54 per cent five years earlier.

The shift reflected faster growth in total customer loans and deposits, which increased by 248.2 per cent and 279.5 per cent, respectively, indicating the growing contribution of corporate banking alongside the continued expansion of retail operations.

In the competitive landscape, Attijariwafa bank Egypt ranked 10th in First Bank’s ranking of the fastest-growing retail banking businesses among banks operating in Egypt in H1 2026.

The bank recorded growth of 15.23 per cent, compared with an average of 7.7 per cent across the 27 banks covered by the ranking.

The performance was supported by a 16.52 per cent increase in retail deposits and 10.82 per cent growth in retail loans during the first six months of 2026, securing the bank a place among the top 10 in retail banking growth.

Taken together, these indicators highlight Attijariwafa bank Egypt’s ability to expand its retail banking business while improving credit quality.

Looking ahead, a key opportunity lies in deploying a greater share of its growing retail deposit base into lending while maintaining low levels of non-performing loans.