The steady growth, expansion and diversification achieved by the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) in retail banking has won it the award for best bank in Egypt in the field of retail banking services for individuals in 2019 from the global Asian Banker institution.
The award is given to the best bank in each country included in the assessment, based on the size and development of retail banking business as well as the number of the distribution units of the network and their spread.
The assessment includes the volume of the retail banking portfolio in the field of deposits and loans, as well as retail products, card types, annual growth rates and the quality of the service of branches, in addition to the number of e-services offered to clients.
The retail banking portfolio at the NBE reached EGP 63.3bn by the end of February 2019.
According to a report issued by the bank, the number of individual clients at the bank by the end of February 2019 reached 8 million. The cards issued for clients varied between 4.6m debit cards, 4.2m NBE payroll cards, 2.3m pre-paid cards, and over 1.2m credit cards. The number of the NBE’s ATMs was 4,060 by the end of February. They carry out deposit and withdrawal transactions of salaries, pay bills and donations, in addition to balance inquiries.
The number of POS machines at the bank increased to over 13,900. The number of the branches of the bank is 456 across the country.
The NBE recently launched the second phase of internet banking, Al Ahly Net.
According to the bank, the number of users of this service is estimated to be over 1 million who have access to modern technology and smart connection devices.
The bank has also launched phone cash services, which contribute toward achieving financial inclusion by attracting segments that do not deal with banks.
Earlier this year, the NBE inaugurated three e-service branches. These branches offer clients a banking experience through new e-solutions such as interactive teller machines (ITMs) which are launched for the first time at the bank’s branches which also include a video call service that allows clients to communicate with a bank representative through video and sound to help them easily access the banking service they need.
Watani International
23 April 2019