Tamer Seif Al-Din, A pioneering success story with aiBANK

Arab Investment Bank indicators witnessed strong movements in portfolio size and a significant positive shift in profitability levels, after it was recording net losses, to demonstrate the feasibility of the EFG Hermes Holding and The Sovereign Fund of Egypt acquisition of 76% of the Bank's capital, to be one of the successful deals concluded in recent years.

The trip was led by the successful banker Tamer Seif Al-Din, Chief Executive Officer of Arab Investment Bank, who chaired the bank in January 2022, where he managed to significantly boost the volume of the bank's assets, reaching a portfolio of EGP 67.7 bn by the end of March 2024, compared to EGP 45.5 bn by the end of 2021, with a growth of 48.9% and an increase of EGP 22.2 bn.

He significantly strengthened the Bank's loans, especially for corporates (Corporate and Business Banking), successfully attracting a large group of corporates towards obtaining loans from the Arab Investment Bank. As a result, the Bank's corporate loans jumped by 121.6%, reaching EGP 16.6 bn by the end of Q1 of 2024, compared to EGP 7.5 bn by the end of 2021, with an increase of over EGP 9 bn.

Despite his considerable support for corporates, he did not lose sight of the importance of supporting the retail banking sector. He sought to cope with the changes in this sector, and worked to introduce innovative products that attract a large class of customers, as a result, the bank's retail loans jumped to EGP 8.5 bn by the end of March 2024, from EGP 3.8 bn by the end of 2021, with a growth of 123.9%, and an increase of EGP 4.7 bn.

The efforts of Seif Al-Din in the loans market resulted in making aiBank’s total customer loans portfolio account for EGP 13.8 bn, reaching EGP 25.1 bn by the end of March 2024, compared to EGP 11.3 bn by the end of 2021.

Although the Bank has expanded its loans and succeeded in doubling the size of the portfolio, it managed to reduce the distress rate to 4.73% by the end of March, reaching 16.38% by the end of 2021.

It also managed to reduce distress value of Arab Investment Bank to EGP 1.2 bn by the end of Q1 of 2024, compared to EGP 1.9 bn by the end of 2021 despite the significant increases in the size of the portfolio during this period.

Tamer Seif Al-Din attracted a large group of depositors to the bank, which was reflected in the growth of the total customer deposits portfolio by 50.2%, reaching EGP 58.2 bn by the end of March 2024, compared to EGP 38.7 bn by the end of 2021, with an increase of over EGP 19.4 bn.

Furthermore, He managed to transfer the bank from a net loss of EGP 871.08 mn in 2021 to a net profit of EGP 1.2 bn in 2023.

As for the Bank's net profits during this year, it saw strong growth, jumping by 172%, to record EGP 475.2 mn in Q1 of 2024, compared to 175 mn during the same period in 2023, with an increase of EGP 300.2 mn.

In terms of digital transformation, the Bank in the era of Seif Al-Din has taken significant steps regarding this file, as the Bank has joined to IPN through InstaPay, allowing customers to transfer funds momentarily between accounts, cards and e-wallets through their phones.

A number of strategic partnership agreements have also been concluded with Visa, Valu, Meeza, Instapay and Fawry to provide a range of innovative financial solutions.

Seif Al-Din has increased the number of aiBANK’s branches from 31 by the end of 2021 to 34 branches by the end of March 2024, in addition to the headquarter in Cairo City.

In the latest report of the Board of Directors, the Bank revealed its expansion plan to strengthen its presence in the Egyptian banking market, stating that the number of its branches is planned to increase to 50 by the end of 2027, at the rate of 4 new branches each year, with the majority of them in the governorates applying the Bank's geographical spread policy.

It also aims to expand the ATM network to 190 ATMs by the end of 2027 to cover most critical areas, with the aim of providing a convenient presence for easy access to customers at any time and place supported by modern systems by the bank.

Seif Al-Din's ambitions do not stop there, as he intends to change the identity and trademark of the bank to give the corporate identity a future image that reflects confidence in the bank with its existing and future customers, and is intended to be finalized and officially announced before the end of September.

His experience with the Arab Investment Bank received many praises, which was translated into a number of awards, most notably the "Fastest Growing Bank in the Arab Region" by the esteemed World Union of Arab Bankers, and it was also awarded “Best SME Financier” by the Africa Global Funds Service Providers Awards 2023.