Month: February 2018

Egyptian Banking System Expanding on Middle Class, Financial Meltdown Ineffective

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RNCOS, a leading market research firm, said in its new report -Egypt Banking Sector Analysis-, with the significantly low penetration and growing middle class segment, the total deposits at banks in Egypt are projected to grow at a CAGR of 14% from 2007-08 to 2010-11.

As per the report, banking penetration is quite low in Egypt and most of the Egyptians are still unbanked. This is evident from the fact that only 10% of Egyptians currently have a bank account, and only 4% had a debit card as on end of 2007. But the growing middle class population (due to increasing income) and rising awareness level is enabling this unbanked population to access banking services like bank deposits facility. Thus, prospects of the banking sector are reasonably bright as the emergence of middle class population will support the rising demand of banking services like saving and current account deposits and related services like payment cards.

But the most astonishing fact about the Egyptian banking industry is that it will remain unaffected by the ongoing economic meltdown. As per a Research Analyst at RNCOS, -We do not see any significant impact of global financial turmoil on the deposits as the Egyptian system is dominated by state-owned banks. Otherwise also, the system is enjoying a high-support environment, with the country’s authorities having historically demonstrated both their willingness and their ability to intervene and prevent a banking default by any of the Egyptian banks, irrespective of their size or relative importance to the system.-

-Egypt Banking Sector Analysis- provides a comprehensive research and prudent analysis on the banking industry of Egypt. This extensive research will help the clients to identify the market trends and evaluate the leading-edge opportunities critical to the success of the banking industry in the country. This study gives an overview on the various factors driving the banking industry, together with the forces that are blocking the growth of the industry.

This research supplements the past and current information on the Egyptian banking market with forecast on various important industry aspects, including population, consumer durables (television, refrigerators and washing machines), Internet penetration, mobile subscribers, passenger car registrations, banking deposits, loans with the possible sub-categories and net interest income.

About RNCOS:

RNCOS, incorporated in the year 2002, is an industry research firm. We are a team of industry experts who analyze data collected from credible sources. We provide industry insights and analysis that helps corporations to take timely and accurate business decision in today’s globally competitive environment.

For more information visit: http://www.rncos.com/Report/IM155.htm Current Industry News: http://www.rncos.com/Blog/

Eva And Raroc In Banking Performance Metrics

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For efficient business strategy and to improve performance, many financial institutions, such as banks, utilize banking performance metrics. These metrics help in measuring the profitability of the business units, to manage the risks that come with the allocation of capital, and to evaluate performance of each business unit.

The increasing prevalence of technology and the complexity of the market drive many institutions to improve their performance. In a world filled with competition, survival is an objective of many businesses, both the new ones and even progressive ones, while those at the top also have the aspiration to sustain their glory.

Success in a competitive environment has then become a challenge among businesses. To possibly attain this, businesses, such as banks, must measure their performance to be able to come up with solutions once the result of the measure seems unfavourable. Banking performance metrics can be used to aid managers in coming up with complex decisions.

Among the performance metrics used by many banks and other businesses in coming up with financial information for decision-making and evaluation are economic value added and risk-adjusted return of capital or RAROC.

Economic value added, simply known to its acronym version, is an estimate of real economic profit of an entity after performing corrective adjustments to generally-accepted accounting principles or GAAP accounting including the deduction of the equity capital’s opportunity cost. Based on estimates, the utilization of GAAP in corporations ignores a certain worth in shareholder opportunity costs.

The EVA of a business can be measured by deducting the money cost of capital to the Net Operating Profit After Taxes. The money cost of capital in EVA refers to the amount of money instead of the cost of capital in proportional rate.

Stern Stewart & Co. develops its registered trademark, Economic Value Added performance metrics.

Meanwhile, the RAROC or risk adjusted return of capital, is used to analyse the risk-adjusted financial performance of an enterprise and to provide a view of profitability. It is a risk-based framework to measure profitability.

A ratio of risk-adjusted return to economic capital, RAROC is used to determine the economic profit of an enterprise. This system is used to allocate capital for risk management and performance evaluation.

The risk-adjusted return of capital is utilized by banks and other financial institutions. As a risk management tool, RAROC is used to determine the optimal capital structure of the bank through the allocation of capital to individual business units.

Moreover, RAROC is used as a banking performance metric to let banks assign capital to companies and business units, as determined on the economic value added or EVA of each unit. The utilization of capital as determined on risk enhances the capital allocation of banks. The capital that is placed at risk is expected to provide return beyond the risk-free.

EVA and RAROC are among the banking performance metrics used by banking business units to determine profitability in economic sense. The economic value added is utilized in corporate finance to determine the value being created beyond the required return. On the other hand, the risk-adjusted return of capital is determined for the allocation of capital for risk management and performance evaluation purposes.

Overview of UAE Banking Sector

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The UAE banking sector is still in recovery stage, post the 2008-09 real estate crisis in Dubai. However, the financial performance of the banks has stabilised especially over the past couple of years. The UAE banks, particularly Dubai based banks, are facing asset quality challenges, as reflected in their high proportion of non-performing loans and low level of provisions. On the other hand, Abu Dhabi based banks appear relatively less challenged from these issues due to their relatively lower exposure to real estate and higher exposure to oil based industries, which did well amid favourable oil price environment.

The key concerns related to the UAE banks include i) concentration in loans and deposits, ii) high proportion of related party exposures, iii) limited data transparency/availability, and iv) stiff industry competition. Moreover, the performance of the UAE banks has been constrained by the still recovering real estate and construction sectors. Although the banks maintain a strong presence in their local markets, the banking sector has limited diversification and displays concentration in terms of geographies, products, and customers.

That said, most of the UAE based banks benefit from strong ownership structure backed by local governments. In addition, most of these banks are in the process of restructuring their problem loans. The economy of Dubai has shown encouraging growth in the past two years. All key sectors of the economy including real estate, trade, tourism, and services have shown a considerable improvement. The improved performance of the core sectors would result in re-classification of some of non-performing loans as performing loans, which would reduce stress on the banking sector in the medium term.

Recent political unrest in some countries in the MENA region has benefited UAE, owing to its safe haven status in the region. Dubai has strengthened its position as a regional financial hub and has become a key channel for investment across the MENA region. This has directly helped local banks. The key characteristics of the UAE banking sector are as follows.

i) Strong links to local governments: The UAE banking sector has been strongly dominated by the governments of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The ruling families are also actively involved through their investments in the country, typically through their holding companies. The government’s significant involvement in the UAE banking system proved beneficial during the global financial crisis. The authorities responded quickly when needed and supported local banks in 2008 and early 2009. The UAE Central Bank has provided liquidity support as well as deposits to banks in the past to alleviate funding pressure. Markets expect a continuous support to the UAE banks from local governments in future, if needed.

ii) Strong capitalization: The UAE banking sector exhibits a very strong level of capitalization. Its capital levels are supported by consistent profitability, strong earnings retention, and equity injections from the government in times of need. Total capital adequacy ratio of the sector has exceeded 20% over the past three years, the highest in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. However, the high capital levels are also justified by some banks’ high share of non-performing loans, which requires a higher level of capital than the average.

iii) Weak asset quality: The UAE banks are challenged by weak asset quality. Most of the banks based in Dubai have shown very high level of non-performing loans and insufficient provisions. Moody’s expects non-performing loans of the UAE banks to remain in 10%-12% range in 2013. The agency also stated that despite recovery in core industries, the non performing loans are unlikely to reduce rapidly in the medium term due to banks’ large exposure to troubled borrowers, especially in the real estate industry.

iv) Dependence on oil prices and global macro-economic conditions: The performance of the UAE economy, especially Abu Dhabi, largely depends on oil prices. Any sudden fall in oil prices could result in lower public spending by the Abu Dhabi government. This could impact the performance of Abu Dhabi based banks, which have largely been involved in financing government directed projects. Also, in the event of a sharp decline in oil prices, the resulting economic downturn may further impact lending activities of the banks. On the other hand, Dubai largely derives its growth from real estate, trade, tourism, and services industry. The performance of most of these sectors is linked to global economy. Any deterioration in global macroeconomic environment would directly impact Dubai’s economy and its banking sector.

v) Limited credit differentiation: It is hard to differentiate between UAE banks just by looking at their credit metrics. Most of these banks are closely linked to local governments. The differences in asset quality and franchise value are the only primary distinguishing factors for the banks in the country.

vi) High competition: The UAE is an overbanked region. There are 51 banks currently operating in the UAE. This has resulted in stiff industry competition and has pressurized net interest margins of the banks.

Add Breeze Banking To Your Life

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The Breeze from Stan Chart (also known as the Standard Chartered Bank) has created a new generation online banking platform that is making waves all over Singapore where it was developed!

Available in both Singapore and Malaysia the Standard Chartered Breeze will be available in Hong Kong and India very soon. From there it will extend its reach to the rest of the world. Prepare for the Breeze experience to breeze its way into your town or city and into your very life!

If you have always found it boring, frustrating, stressful, annoying or inconvenient to do your banking then you are ready for the Breeze experience to come into your life! Breeze is available to customers of the Standard Chartered Bank as an internet application or if you prefer, as an iPhone app. Do no fret over the details concerning the Breeze as it will be available as an iPad app as of September 2010 which is not far away at all!

Keep in mind that the reason most people use banking services offered online and through mobile devices is convenience. For instance, business owners or executives who travel can gain access to business accounts anytime day or night and from any country or individual accountholders could handle a bank transaction while vacation on a tropical island. This means that every feature associated with the Standard Chartered Breeze platform has been carefully designed to meet the customer’s wish.

Breeze offers you the opportunity to customise the icons to make them suit your preferences. It comes with a handy wish list functions to help you plan for the things you want most to save for. The wish list also offers a rainy day feature that prepares you financially for emergencies that could crop up. It is also in plain language and has an intuitive interface that is as customer friendly as it could be. For example, it has a See, Move and Manage Your Money section that makes keeping track of your money and managing it the easiest thing in the world.

If you have just started banking online recently then the introduction of Breeze will improve your banking experience 100 percent. In fact once you start using Breeze you will never want to go back to banking any other way or with any other financial institution.

It cannot be emphasized enough that Breeze was created with the customers and users in mind. It takes your greatest needs in terms of banking and makes them a reality. You will not have to endure any more frustration when you use Breeze by the Standard Chartered Bank.

Breeze has an intuitive user friendly and user savvy interface as well as providing you with the unique ability to customise the icons as you see fit. What other banking application can say as much? Breeze is the bomb and it will be on the market very soon!