Thanks to the strong performance achieved in his leadership, Hazem Hijazi leads alBaraka to international awarding institutions

alBaraka Bank indicators have seen remarkable progress since Hazem Hijazi assumed executive leadership of the bank in early October 2021, writing a leading success story in the Egyptian banking market. He managed to lead the bank to the top of many of the fastest growing lists among Egyptian banks and developed technological infrastructure and focused on Internet banking services, This has led his outstanding experience to be awarded from international institutions.

Hijazi has been able to lead alBaraka Bank towards record profits. The Bank's net profits have jumped by about 55.8% since he assumed the leadership, reaching EGP 1.6 bn in the first 9M of 2023, compared to EGP 1 bn in the same period in 2021, with an increase of EGP 575.6 mn.

Net interest income rose by 51.70%, registering EGP 3.2 bn in the first 9M of 2023, compared to EGP 2.1 bn during the same period in 2021, with an increase of EGP 1.1 bn.

Net fees and commissions income rose to EGP 304.9 mn during the first 9M of last year, compared to EGP 182.7 mn during the same period of 2021, with a growth of 66.9% and an increase of EGP 122.2 mn.

Hijazi also expanded the size of the Bank's business and strengthened its financial position, pushing the Bank's assets portfolio to jump from EGP 78.3 bn by Q3 of 2021 to EGP 98.4 bn by the end of September 2023, with a growth rate of 25.7% and an increase of EGP 20.1 bn.

He has significantly strengthened alBaraka Bank's loans by providing many concessions and benefits to customers across various products, to grew following this, the total gains, speculation and participation of the Bank by EGP 17.7 bn, to register EGP 41 bn by the end of September 2023, compared to EGP 23.3 bn by the end of September 2021, with a growth rate of 76%.

This strong performance of the Bank in the loans portfolio is due to the rises achieved in the retail banking sector in particular as its retail loans portfolio has risen by about 191.5%. It reached EGP 6.9 bn by the end of Q3 of last year, up from EGP 2.4 bn at the end of September 2021, with an increase of EGP 4.5 bn and noteworthy that the bank retail loans portfolio continues its strong growth, during the first 9M of 2023, recording its fastest quarterly growth in 5 years.

The Bank also achieved good growth in its corporate loans, with its portfolio rising by about 62.8%, to register EGP 34 bn by the end of Q3 of 2023, compared to EGP 20.9 bn by the end of the same period in 2021, with an increase of EGP 13.1 bn.

He is keen to comply with the supervisory instructions prescribed by the Central Bank of Egypt regarding the exported and paid capital of the bank as the Bank successfully increased it to about EGP 5.09 bn by the end of September 2023, compared to EGP 1.55 bn by the end of Q3 of 2021, with a growth of 229.14%, an estimated increase of EGP 3.54 bn, exceeding the Central Bank of Egypt's EGP 5 bn limit.

It sought to introduce products and savings deposits with competitive returns to attract more customers to the Bank, thereby increasing the impact of the Bank's deposit portfolio by about 20% since taking over the leadership, to EGP 82.3 bn by the end of September 2023, up from EGP 68.6 bn by the end of Q3 of 2021, with an increase of EGP 13.7 bn.

The increase in customer deposits portfolio is due to the increase in the Bank's portfolio of corporate deposits, jumping to EGP 42.3 bn by the end of Q3 of last year, compared to EGP 34.2 bn by the end of September 2021, with a growth of 23.5% and an increase of EGP 8.1 bn.

As for retail deposits, it rose by EGP 5.6 bn, reaching EGP 40 bn by Q3 of 2023, compared to EGP 34.4 bn by the end of September 2021, with a growth rate of 16%.

He also worked to significantly boost the Bank's financial investments, until the total portfolio jumped from EGP 18.9 bn by the end of September 2021, to EGP 44.6 bn by the same month of 2023, with a growth of 136.3% and an increase of EGP 25.7 bn.

Hijazi seeks to enhance the employment and development of resources by setting high growth targets and reaching the banking sector average, which has already succeeded, with the Bank's Loans To Deposits Ratio rising to 49.75% by the end of September 2023, compared to 33.93% by the end of Q3 of 2021.

The Geographical spread of alBaraka Bank has also been enhanced with the aim of increasing the customer base through geographical expansion in various regions of the governorates of Egypt, bringing the total number of branches to 36 so far, compared to 32 branches by the end of September 2021.

The significant growth in the Bank indicators, under the leadership of Hazem Hijazi, leads the Bank to clinch the top of many of the fastest-growing lists in First Bank rankings during the period under analysis.

The most prominent ratings that enabled the bank to take the first position last year were the list of the fastest-growing banks in personal loans, and the list of the fastest-growing banks in retail loans in the first 9M of 2023.

As for the most prominent lists that the Bank topped in 2022, they were the First Bank list of fastest-growing banks in customer loans, First Bank's list of the fastest-growing banks in retail loans, First Bank's list of the fastest-growing banks in personal loans, First Bank's list of the fastest-growing banks on syndicated loans, and First Bank's list of the fastest growing banks in financial investments.

Many international institutions documented Hazem Hejazi's success story with alBaraka Bank, most notably International Business, which awarded the bank the fastest growing Islamic Bank award in Egypt in 2023.

The Bank also won the Best Structured Finance Deal in Egypt for 2023 from British magazine Global Brands, came also on the Forbes list of the 50 most powerful corporations in Egypt for 2023, and also received two awards, the first as the best structure, and the second as the best local currency finance for its participation in the co-financing awarded to EverGrow Fertilizer Company