Banks change their investment trends in 2023, Loans at the front

Banks operating in the Egyptian banking market have achieved strong and exceptional performance over the past year, in almost all indicators, and by monitoring their investment trends in 2023, they have resorted to a significant adjustment of their policy.

Banks tended to reduce their trends towards investing in securities and treasury bills, as reflected in the decline in their relative weight, to account for about 36.50% of the total assets of banks operating in the Egyptian banking sector by the end of 2023, compared to 38.84% by the end of 2022.

However, it resorted to raising its trend towards investing in Loans and Discounts for Customers balance, registering 38.46% of total banking sector assets (other than the Central Bank) by the end of 2023, compared to 35.91% by the end of 2022, as the first destination for bank investment

Banks’ balances accounted for the third largest component of the Egyptian banking sector's asset portfolio by the end of 2023, with a relative weight of 18.36% of the sector's total assets by the end of last year, compared to 16.72% by the end of 2022, and the rest was concentrated in other miscellaneous assets.

As a result of banks’ policies during the period under analysis, strong growth rates were achieved, with Egyptian banks' net profits (other than the Central Bank) rising by 116.58% over the past year, reaching EGP 283.9 bn in 2023, compared to EGP 130.84 bn in 2022, with an increase of EGP 152.5 bn. The net return of banks operating in the sector jumped to EGP 582.5 bn in 2023, compared to EGP 331.2 bn in 2022, with a growth of 75.87% and an increase of EGP 251.3 bn.

The asset portfolio rose from EGP 11.4 tn by the end of 2022 to EGP 14.2 tn by the end of 2023, with growth of 24.57% and an increase of EGP 2.8 tn.

Loans and Discounts for Customers balance rose by 33.43% over the past year, reaching EGP 5.5 tn by the end of 2023, compared to EGP 4.1 tn by the end of 2022, with an increase of EGP 1.4 tn.

The portfolio of securities and investments in Treasury bills jumped to EGP 5.2 tn by the end of 2023, compared to EGP 4.4 tn by the end of 2022, with a growth of 17.07%, and an increase of about EGP 755.8 bn.

Total customer deposits jumped from EGP 8.6 tn by the end of 2022, to EGP 10.1 tn by the end of 2023, with an increase of EGP 1.6 tn.