This time is harder! A new race for AAIB at the top of Egypt's private sector banks

AAIB used to win all the races, this is how we can describe the AAIB under Tamer Waheed, who took the executive leadership of the bank in May 2023. Since that date, the bank has won more than one race. The first was the bank's race to return to the list of the largest 5 banks in Egypt after leaving the list under Sharif Alwi’s leadership, former Chief Executive Officer of the Bank, ranking sixth in the list of the largest Egyptian banks.

AAIB competes with Banque du Caire - Egypt's fifth largest bank until September 2023. AAIB was able to win this race and regain its position on the top 5 banks in Egypt list, after its financial portfolios recorded significant growth that enabled it to return to this list at the end of the third quarter of 2023 after its asset portfolio rose in the first 9 months of last year by about 45% to score EGP 474 bn by the end of September 2023. While the growth of Banque du Caire was lower and the Bank's asset portfolio reached EGP 380 bn in the same date.

From its race for fifth place in the list of the largest banks in Egypt to a new race for fourth place in the same list, it competes with QNB - Egypt's fourth largest bank until June 2024. AAIB was able to win this race also in a few months in a major surprise achieved by the bank in the banking sector after becoming the fourth largest Egyptian bank and the second largest private sector bank in Egypt, after the record growth in the bank's financial indicators in the first half of 2024, where its asset portfolio rose by about 41% during the first half of the year to EGP 760 bn by the end of June. While QNB's growth pace was slower and its asset portfolio reached EGP 741 bn on the same date.

This time the AAIB is in a new race, but it's a special one. The race for the title of the largest private sector bank in Egypt and the third largest Bank in the market, the competitor is CIB that holds this title for many years after the bank achieved it during its historical era at the beginning of the third millennium under the leadership of Hisham Ezz Al-Arab.

This race will be interesting for observers in the Egyptian but also Arab banking sector as a race between two different schools in the administration The First School of the Creative School Hisham Ezz Al-Arab and the owner of historical achievements in the banking sector, The second school is Tamer Waheed, one of the geniuses rising at rocket speed in the banking sector. Each school has a different policy and management culture in terms of growth instruments, employment of the Bank's traditional resources, expansion strategy, marketing and targeting method, quality enhancement visions and profits.

Anyway; we’ll wait and watch what happens in this interesting race? Will AAIB succeed in breaking the ordinary and rebelling against "logic" in the banking sector in the last two decades! It blogs a new chapter of success in its historical rise story and becomes the largest private sector bank in Egypt? And how much time will it take if this is achieved?

Or will CIB remain on the top of Egypt's private banks, moving further away with this title to resolve that the seat of Egypt's third largest bank will continue to be for the remarkable executive team that Hisham Ezz Al-Arab has returned to lead?

The difference in the volume of assets between AAIB and CIB is significant. But this significant difference in figures may become low if subjected to relative theory and compared to the unnatural growth rates achieved by AAIB under Tamer Waheed’s leadership in the first 6M of 2024, the Bank was able to raise the value of its asset portfolio by about EGP 222 bn, with a 41% growth rate at once!

This means that if AAIB achieves the same growth rate in the second half of the year, its assets of EGP 760.4 bn will rise by the end of last June by EGP 311 bn by the end of 2024, which exceeds the difference between the two banks.

But on the other hand, CIB is also achieving rapid growth rates and has achieved a nearly 26.36% rise in its asset portfolio during the first six months of this year, to register EGP 1.05 tn by the end of June 2024, compared to EGP 832 bn by the end of 2023, as well as the current refreshment of the bank following the return of Hisham Ezz Al-Arab to the seat of the bank's chief executive officer after a period spent by a chairman of a non-executive board.