‘’The Agricultural Bank of Egypt will be one of the largest banks in the country within 3-4 years’’, predicted Tarek Amer, The Central Bank of Egypt governor said; Perhaps these words explain why Amer’ has chosen Alaa Farouk to be Chairman of the state-owned bank as of February 2020.
The CBE governor is betting on the bank’s success, growth and competitiveness, so he brought in a professional who has a long experience in the banking sector in general and in the retail banking in particular to lead the he Agricultural Bank of Egypt into a new era.
Amer believes that Farouk can lead the process of transforming the bank from a bank only specializing in the agricultural sector business to an integrated bank that provides its services for all, while achieving a leading role in developing the Agriculture sector.
Farouk has more than thirty years of solid hands-on banking experience while providing innovative and rigorous solutions to strategic banking challenges. His experience covers a wide spectrum of businesses and industries including marketing, sales, customer service and consulting.
He joined National Bank of Egypt in 2009 following 26 years at Barclays Bank Egypt (absorbed in 2017 by Attijariwafa Bank), where he eventually became head of the Alexandria, Delta, and Upper Egypt area.
Proving Tarek Amer’s bet, Farouk has succeeded in applying an extraordinary plan to develop the Agriculture Bank over the course of 2020, while reintroducing the bank to the banking sector and creating a stronger trade mark.
The Agricultural Bank performance since Farouk assumed the Chairman position
Alaa Farouk managed, in a short period, to lead the bank towards a record boom in its financial indicators, as the deposit portfolio rose from 62 billion pounds at early 2020 to 70 billion pounds at the end of September 2020n seeing an increase of 12.9 percent in a just few months, despite Coronavirus pandemic.
Furthermore, the loans portfolio has witnessed a record increase registering 44 billion pounds in November 2020 compared to approximately 32 billion pounds before Farouk assumed the responsibility of the bank, thus achieving an increase of 37.5 percent within 9 months.
In addition, the bank has succeeded in attracting about 500 thousand new customers after Farouk assumed power in February 2020. He has also put in a plan to the bank’s client base reaching 30 million.
However, the number of major companies financed by the bank increased from 14 to 80 companies on the back of the bank’s new expansionary strategy.
His vision
Alaa Farouk has a visionary plan for the Agricultural Bank of Egypt that includes covering the bank’s provisions while shifting to profitability within 3 years, in addition, it compromises increasing the client base and expanding from 1210 branches to 2000 branches within 5 Years. Thus, bank’s role will be more pivotal role to achieving the state’s financial inclusion strategy.
Farouk also aims to enhance the efficiency of the bank employees, who are estimated to be 17,000, through training programs that aims at enriching their skills. An aim which was clear when the bank has doubled its training budget from one million Egyptian pounds to 30 million pounds.
His achievements at the National Bank of Egypt
During his tenure as the NBE’s retail sector head, Farouk has succeeded in maintaining the NBE leading position in this sector. The bank’s retail banking portfolio rose from 38 billion pounds in June 2016 to 90 billion pounds at the end of 2019 achieving an increase of 136.8% during the interval years of his leadership.
He contributed to the development of NBE’s retail strategy putting a head the implementation of the CBE’s initiatives especially in the SMEs sector.
