Interview with Hisham Akram, founder and director of Granite Financial Holding

EnterpriseAM: So, what’s new with Granite Financial Holding?

Hisham Akram: Well, everything is new about the company. We’re basically launching Egypt’s first digital money market account. The idea of the account is to have access to a money market fund, and there will be a direct sweep between the account and the fund. People will interact directly through the account, and their money would get swept into the fund whenever they want — whether they want to add money, top up their account, or redeem money, it gets redeemed from the fund seamlessly. The great thing about the app is that it will also allow for digital onboarding in less than three minutes, and for each transaction, whether adding or removing money, it will take less than one minute.

E: If you were to start over and build a new business in a different sector, what would it be?

HA: I think I would do the same thing. I think digital transformation is the name of moving forward. The traditional way of doing banking is old, focusing on this digital transformation is very interesting for us, especially in the asset management space. We can add new and innovative products that were otherwise not available in the Egyptian market, like the digital money market account, pension plans, and real estate investment trusts. Now there are a lot of regulations that support that, and we want to benefit from that.

E: On a personal level, which asset class do you prefer to invest in at the moment?

HA: I think being a portfolio manager, I believe in diversification — you need to have a bit of equity, a bit of debt, and also a bit of precious metals. They’ve been doing very well, particularly gold and real estate.

E: Would you share with us which ones you’re more leaning toward currently?

HA: It’s kind of tricky, but I think I prefer equity moving forward. Carry trades now, with the real interest rates in favor of the EGP, also look very interesting for those who are USD-denominated.

E: What exchange rate are you penciling in for your 2026 budget?

HA: I think the USD is going to be hovering around the EGP 48 mark—maybe go up a little bit, maybe go down a little bit depending on the inflows of USD. Egypt has been doing well with that. We also depend on flows from tourism and the Suez Canal. The Suez Canal has not been doing very well over the past 12 months. Moving into ’26-’27, I think it will make sense for the currency to depreciate a little bit further. This depreciation has been supporting exports and tourism and definitely reducing our import bill. So, I would expect anywhere between 48 and 50 for the 26-27 budget, or I’d like to see it around that mark.

E: How do you plan to finance growth next year? Where do interest rates need to be for bank debt to be in that mix for you?

HA: As far as Granite is concerned, we’re going to be financing growth primarily through equity. We do not need debt, so this is not our main focus. It’s going to be predominantly through equity. And I’d like to see interest rates come down, obviously.

E: Has AI had any impact on hiring plans within your company?

HA:Yes. We’ve been looking at AI closely. One of the areas we’re exploring is customer service — responding to customer queries, maybe having AI-powered call centers or chatbots through WhatsApp. We’re also looking at reporting to different agencies through AI. Obviously, there has to be human intervention, but the preparation and generation of reports will be powered by AI in the next twelve months.

E: Has hiring gone up or down with your use of AI?

HA: It has gone up in the areas where we need humans, and we’re managing it very well in areas where AI can substitute. AI cannot replace good employees everywhere, but it can in certain activities. For instance, our tech team has been using AI to help with tech development and customer service. In certain areas, we’re not going to spend too much money hiring people. Mind you, using AI is still expensive because the CAPEX to get AI operational is not cheap. But that’s going to be the overall direction moving forward.

E: Are you fundamentally optimistic, pessimistic, or neutral about the outlook for your industry in 2026?

HA:Obviously, I’m very optimistic. Why? Because we’re in that business. Moving forward, with the regulations now in place in the asset management space and the favorable economic environment — interest rates coming down, the currency stabilizing, and real GDP growth on the rise — I think it all works in favor of people working in capital markets, especially those deploying technology to support that direction.