The volume of Islamic banking in Egypt in March 2022 has climbed to EGP 434 billion, recording a growth rate of 14.6% compared to March 2021 with an increase of EGP 55.2 billion, revealed the Egyptian Association for Islamic Finance earlier today.

This constitutes around 5% of the Egyptian banking market.

The volume of financing through Islamic formulas jumped by 15% in March 2022, compared to the same month in 2021, reaching EGP 343.4 billion at an increase of EGP 44.7 billion, and constitutes around 5.3% of total financing within the Egyptian banking market.

In a statement, president of the association Mohamed El-Beltagy, noted that Egypt’s Islamic banking market includes 14 banks which have received a license from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to provide Islamic banking products.

According to El-Beltagy, there are currently 3 Islamic banks within Egypt - Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt, Al-Baraka Bank Egypt, and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank in Egypt – alongside 11 banks that have dedicated Islamic banking branches.

In a recently released report, Al-Beltagy explained that Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt came in first place in the Islamic banking market in Egypt with a turnover of EGP 137 billion, constituting a 31.7% share of the Islamic banking industry in Egypt.

It was followed by the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank in Egypt with a turnover of EGP 93.9 billion and a share of 21.7%, trailed by Banque Misr’s Islamic transactions with a turnover of EGP 89 billion and a share of 20.6%, while Al-Baraka Bank came in fourth with a turnover of EGP 82.2 billion and a share of 19%.

Islamic deposits rose in March by 13.4% to reach EGP 355.4 billion, taking around 6.8% of the total volume of deposits in the Egyptian banking market as a whole.

In terms of the issuance of the state’s first sovereign sukuk bonds, El-Baltagy expects Egypt to launch it by the end of Q2 of this year.