Egypt

Bahrain I Egypt I Iran I Israel I Jordan I Kuwait I Lebanon I Morocco I Oman I Qatar I Saudi Arabia I United Arab Emirates I Lifetime Achievement

With the growing presence of regional and international banks, and a much stronger performance from some of the local financial institutions such as Arab African International Bank, the contest to be the leading bank is more closely fought than ever.

The winner is Commercial International Bank, which stands out because of the professionalism of its management, which has enabled the bank to continue producing consistently excellent results.

With assets and equity of respectively $5.3 billion and $475 million, CIB is Egypt’s largest private financial institution and its most profitable bank. It made $106 million in net profit after tax in 2005, 21% up on the previous year.

Revenue per employee rose by 6% last year, largely because of the bank’s ability to maintain an impressively low 10% staff cost/revenue ratio, while net profit from the retail business rose by 50% in 2005.