Hala Sadek's Leadership Transforms Al Ahli United Bank: Strong Profitability and Record Growth Achieved!

With over 32 years of banking experience and holding various important positions in the Middle East and North Africa region, Hala Sadek, the CEO of Ahli United Bank - Egypt, successfully led the bank towards strong profitability and record growth in its key indicators.

This was revealed by a new report conducted by First Bank to measure the bank's progress since she assumed the executive leadership in 2020.

Hala Sadek managed to strengthen the bank's financial position, increasing its total assets from EGP 56.17 bn at the end of 2020 to EGP98.56 bn at the end of the first quarter of 2023, with a growth rate of 75.45% and an increase of EGP42.38 bn.

Moreover, under her leadership, Ahli United Bank increased its funding to customers and other banks, reaching EGP58.21 bn by the end of March 2023, compared to EGP31.51 bn at the end of 2020, representing a growth rate of 84.77% and an increase of EGP 26.71 bn.

This growth mainly came from increased financing to corporates and banks, which surged from EGP28.67 bn at the end of 2020 to EGP55.15 bn at the end of the first quarter of 2023, with a growth rate of 92.33% and an increase of EGP26.47 bn.

However, concerning Ahli United Bank's retail banking financing, Sadek faced criticism for not giving sufficient attention to this vast market that continues to attract more customers day by day.

The bank struggled to attract new segments of customers compared to other banks in the Egyptian banking sector, as evident from the weak growth of the bank's retail financing portfolio, which only increased by 8.18%, reaching EGP3.06 bn by the end of March this year, compared to EGP2.83 bn at the end of 2020, with an increase of just EGP231.7 mn.

Regarding the bank's capital, Sadek managed to increase it from EGP3 bn at the end of 2020 to EGP5 bn at the end of the first quarter of this year.

In terms of customer deposits, Al Ahli United Bank witnessed a significant increase from EGP46.58 bn at the end of 2020 to EGP79.69 bn at the end of March 2023, with a growth rate of 71.08% and an increase of EGP33.11 bn.

This increase was primarily driven by a rise in corporate deposits by 71.13%, reaching EGP64.4 bn at the end of the first quarter of this year, compared to EGP37.63 bn at the end of 2020, with an increase of EGP26.77 bn.

As for retail deposits, they increased by EGP6.34 bn since Sadek took over, reaching EGP15.29 bn by the end of March 2023, compared to EGP8.95 bn at the end of 2020, with a growth rate of 70.87‰.

Regarding profitability levels, Hala Sadek successfully led Ahli United Bank to strong profits. Net profits increased by 69.21%, reaching EGP 2.01 bn in 2022, compared to EGP1.19 bn in 2020, with an increase of EGP821.06 mn.

However, the significant surge in profits occurred during the current year, with net profits jumping by around 277.61% to reach EGP1.57 bn during the first quarter of 2023, compared to EGP 416.99 mn during the same period in 2022, with an increase of EGP1.16 bn.