Few lenders in the Middle East and north Africa, or beyond, can lay claim to the kind of performance enjoyed by Egypt’s Commercial International Bank (CIB). In The Banker’s Top 100 Arab Banks ranking for 2018, CIB achieved the highest return on assets and return on capital, while coming in among the top five lenders in terms of its cost-to-income ratio. This success is not new; the bank has outperformed most domestic and regional market growth indicators for a number of years.
Under the auspices of Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, its managing director and chairman since 2002, CIB has emerged as one of the region’s most forward-thinking and innovative banks. When revolution struck Egypt in 2011, for instance, CIB pursued a countercyclical strategy and expanded its footprint across the country. Today, with a stable and reform-minded government at the helm in Cairo, the bank is reaping the rewards of this decision.
