Nidal Assar's Transformative Leadership Drives EGBANK to Unprecedented Growth And Strong Profits
Wegdan Mohamed
Nidal Assar has made significant progress with the Egyptian Gulf Bank since taking over its leadership in 2015. He has successfully brought about significant changes that led to record increases in the bank's main portfolios and enabled the attraction of different and new segments of customers.
This comes as part of an integrated strategy for growth and expansion, where the bank's strategy aimed at providing a contemporary experience that places the youth at the heart of the institution's priorities, in addition to exploring new horizons and advanced solutions to offer what is new and different.
Looking at the bank's performance under Assar's leadership, we found that the Egyptian Gulf Bank has achieved strong performance, reflected in the significant growth the bank has witnessed. It has strengthened its financial position and expanded its business volume, with the bank's asset portfolio jumping to EGP 99.93 bn by the end of the first quarter of 2023, compared to EGP 23.36 bn by the end of 2015, representing a growth rate of 327.81% and an increase of EGP 76.57 bn.
He also paid great attention to financing various corporates, as evident from the strong increase in the bank's portfolio of corporate loans, which rose from EGP 7.43 bn by the end of 2015 to EGP 22.26 bn by the end of March 2023, with a growth rate of 199.74% and an increase of around EGP 14.83 bn.
Despite his great focus on financing corporates, he did not neglect the importance of supporting retail banking sector, which witnessed significant growth under his leadership. The bank's personal loans grew by 610.87%, jumping from EGP 1.24 bn by the end of 2015 to EGP 8.80 bn by the end of the first quarter of 2023, with an increase of EGP 7.56 bn.
This led to a total of Egyptian Gulf Bank clients' loans rising to EGP 31.06 bn by the end of March 2023, compared to EGP 8.67 bn by the end of 2015, with a growth rate of 258.49% and an increase of EGP 22.4 bn.
He also worked on gaining the trust of more depositors, as evidenced by the increase in the bank's customer deposit portfolio from EGP 20.62 bn by the end of 2015 to EGP 79.66 bn by the end of the first quarter of 2023, with a growth rate of 286.33% and an increase of EGP 59.04 bn.
Furthermore, he strengthened the bank's financial investments, which jumped from EGP 7.55 bn by the end of 2015 to EGP 38.14 bn by the end of March 2023, with a growth rate of 405.39% and an increase of EGP 30.59 bn.
He also aimed to expand the bank's geographic presence by adding about 41 new branches, bringing the total number of branches to 60 by the end of the first quarter of 2023, compared to 19 branches by the end of 2015, in addition to the main bank branch.
He also showed great interest in innovative opportunities and partnerships with the fintech sector. Therefore, under his leadership, the bank has been moving steadily towards direct investment in the fintech sector and other diverse sectors.
This is done through strategic partnerships with licensed capital worth EGP 1.8 bn, which directly and indirectly contribute to supporting the bank's development process to cope with technological developments, which are considered the most important means of investment and communication with the largest segment of customers through specialized companies in the following fields: participating in the establishment of microfinance companies with licensed capital of EGP 650 mn, in addition to obtaining a license to establish a consumer finance company with licensed capital of EGP 270 mn, and finally participating in the establishment of a leasing company with licensed capital of EGP 500 mn.
This outstanding performance under Nidal Assar's leadership at the Egyptian Gulf Bank has led to achieving record profits. The bank's net profit increased by 207.61% to reach EGP 855.53 mn in 2022, compared to EGP 278.12 mn in 2015, with an increase of EGP 577.40 mn.
As for the bank's net profit during the current year, it jumped by 60.23% to reach EGP 316.31 mn in the first quarter of 2023, compared to EGP 197.41 mn in the same period of 2022, with an increase of EGP 118.9 mn.