Union National Bank – Egypt (UNB-E) is awaiting the approval of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to appoint Ihab ElSewerky as its managing director, according to Mohamed Nasr Abdeen, vice chairperson of the bank.

The bank’s general assembly approved on Saturday the appointment of ElSewerky, who is due to begin his new role in the next few days after obtaining the CBE approval.

ElSewerky was previously the assistant managing director of the United Bank of Egypt.

During the assembly, Abdeen reviewed the bank’s performance indicators in 2017, noting that net profit reached EGP 380m, up from EGP 180m in 2016, rising 111%.

According to Abdeen, the bank’s financial position at the end of 2017 reached EGP 28.7bn, up from EGP 24.4bn at the end of 2016, rising 18%.

He added that the bank’s loans portfolio and credit facilities amounted to EGP 9.5bn, up from EGP 8bn, increasing by EGP 1.5bn (18%), attributing the increase to expanding in retail loans, corporate facilities, and small and medium enterprises.

Abdeen pointed out that the value of the bank’s investments in treasury bills rose by the end of 2017 to EGP 10bn, up by EGP 3bn from EGP 7bn in 2016, marking a growth of 41%.

Moreover, the bank’s customer deposits portfolio increased by EGP 3.9bn, from EGP 20.6bn in 2016 to EGP 24.5bn in 2017, up 19%, due to increased individual deposits, at EGP 1.4bn, and corporates deposits at EGP 2.5bn.

In a related context, Abdeen revealed that the bank received a loan from the parent group in the UAE worth $50m (EGP 886m) to support the bank’s capital base and increase its capital adequacy ratio.

The capital of Union National Bank – Egypt currently stands at EGP 1.4bn, after the distribution of one free share per 20 shares in 2016. The last general assembly of the bank approved the same distribution ratio in 2017.