Crédit Agricole Egypt reported a net profit of EGP 2.2bn at the end of 2018 up by 12.4% year-over-year (Y-O-Y), according to the bank’s financial results released on Sunday on the year that ended in December 2018.

The bank’s return on equity reached 55% in 2018, while earnings per share went up by 12.36% to EGP 6.4 in 2018, compared to EGP 5.7 in 2017.

Furthermore, the results indicated a substantial increase of 19.5% in the bank’s gross loans to reach EGP 21.589bn, compared to EGP 18.06bn a year earlier. While deposits witnessed a 18.5% growth to record EGP 43.93bn in 2018, up from EGP 37.08bn in 2017.

“Our endeavor is to create an impact by being useful to our customers, staff, local economy, the community, and the environment by integrating a sustainable approach through all our activities. As a result, our well-balanced business model generated a rise of 12.4% in 2018 net profit contributed by all lines of business: retail, private banking, SMEs, corporate, and capital markets,” said Crédit Agricole Egypt’s Managing Director, Pierre Finas.

Additionally, at the end of 2018, the bank’s capital adequacy ratio reached 20.31%, well above regulatory threshold (11.875%).

In terms of operational efficiency, Crédit Agricole Egypt managed to pursue its controls in order to maintain the same level of cost-to-income ratio at 27.9% in 2018.