ALEX BANK, Emirates NBD, and ADIB-Egypt compete to enter the Largest 10 Club

In the context of competition in the Egyptian banking sector, banks are racing to boost their market shares and increase the size of their main portfolios. In view of this, we find a group of banks racing to enter the list of the top 10 banks in Egypt according to the size of assets.

The top 10 is the National Bank of Egypt, with a market share that exceeded 34% of total banking assets by the end of September, flying away from its closest competitors, after its portfolio reaching about 5 tn by the end of the same period.

Banque Misr ranked second with a market share of 16.96% of the total assets of the banking sector by the Q3 of 2023, after its portfolio jumped to EGP 2.5 tn by the end of the same period.

The Commercial International Bank is in third place with an estimated market share of 5.49% of total banking assets by the end of September, following a rise in its asset size to EGP 808.7 bn by the end of the same period.

QNB took the fourth position and achieved a market share of 3.96% of total banking assets by the end of Q3 of 2023, after registering its portfolio of about EGP 584 bn by the end of the same period.

Arab African International Bank ranked fifth with a market share of 3.22% of the total assets of the banking sector by the end of last September, while the sixth, seventh positions were taken by Banque du Caire and First Abu Dhabi Bank - Egypt with a share of 2.58% and 2.06% respectively by the end of Q3 of 2023.

The eighth position was clinched by HSBC - Egypt with an estimated market share of about 1.5% of the total assets of the banking sector by Q3 of 2023, while ninth position was taken by Agricultural Bank of Egypt with a market share of about 1.2% by the end of the same period.

Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt finished tenth with a market share of 1.16% of the total assets of the Egyptian banking sector by the end of September 2023, after its asset size jumped to EGP 171 bn by the end of Q3 of last year.

This raises a question, perhaps in some's minds, about what banks are so close to enter the Largest Ten Club?! Especially when achieving this is no longer difficult given the various changes that have taken place in the list in recent years, which we have observed in previous articles, and we will be addressing more in other upcoming articles.

First Bank monitors the performance of all banks operating in the Egyptian banking sector, it revealed that there are 3 banks nominated to enter the Largest Ten Club in the coming period, ALEXBANK, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Emirates NBD.

Turning to the performance of the three banks over the past five years, ALEXBANK was a former member of the largest Ten Club, but as a result of the weak growth it witnessed, which negatively reflected on its share in the asset market, the bank came out of that list and was replaced by Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt.

ALEXBANK accounted for 1.03% of the sector's total assets by the end of Q3 of 2023, compared to 1.17% by the end of 2022.

As for the performance of Emirates NBD, it recorded good growth rates over the past period, ending with a market share of 0.88% of the total assets of the banking sector by the end of September 2023 without any change from 2022, with a near stability in its market share level over the past years.

In terms of the performance of Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, it was the fastest growing bank of the three banks during the past five years. It has registered strong growth and significant development. Its asset portfolio has seen a record jump, rising from EGP 49.2 bn by the end of 2018, to EGP 147 bn by Q3 of 2023, with a growth of 200% and an increase of EGP 97.9 bn.

This makes Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank the nearest candidate of the three banks to enter the largest Ten Club soon, in case that it continues to perform strongly, with record growth in its asset size, followed by Emirates NBD and finally ALEXBANK, according to the pace of growth achieved in each bank’s asset portfolio during the period under analysis.