EGYPT – Banque du Caire, a full-service bank, has secured US$100 million financing package from The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for trade financing and on-lending to local micro-, small and medium-sized companies (MSMEs).
The EBRD will provide a US$50 million loan to help Banque du Caire increase the amount of funding it makes available to Egypt’s MSMEs and support the bank in expanding its MSME lending outside the Greater Cairo region.
The EBRD is also extending a US$50 million trade finance limit under the EBRD’s Trade Facilitation Programme, which will be used to issue guarantees to confirming banks and provide cash advances to fund pre-export and post-import trade-related loans to local private-sector companies and for local distribution.
“The agreements signed today mark the start of a new strategic partnership between our two institutions,” said Heike Harmgart, EBRD Managing Director for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean.
“We are very pleased to further support trade and small businesses throughout the country with this new financing package to Banque du Caire.”
Banque du Caire Chair and CEO Tarek Fayed expressed his pride in the bank’s partnership with the EBRD, a reflection of the confidence of international financial institutions in Banque du Caire’s financial indicators and future vision, as well as the bank’s pioneering role in supporting MSMEs, a top priority in its strategy and expansion plans.
In October 2020, EBRD granted Banque du Caire a senior loan of up to US$50 million for on-lending to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Egypt.
The loan was to assist the Egyptian bank in developing its MSME lending activities and expand access to finance for underserved MSMEs.
The EBRD said that the loan was to increase the availability of finance to private MSMEs, and as a result allow greater access to finance for this largely underserved segment.
Additionally, the loan was to help in the provision of scarce medium-term financing directed at an underserved segment of the real economy, the EBRD added.
Banque du Caire is the sixth largest bank in Egypt, with total assets worth a total of US$11.5 billion as of June 2020. The bank operates the third largest branch network in Egypt. Banque du Caire is ultimately owned by Banque Misr, the second largest bank in the country.
Egypt is a founding member of the EBRD. Since the start of its operations there in 2012, the Bank has invested close to US$8.6 billion in 127 projects in the country.
