BdC’s 3Q net income falls 20% y-o-y, while 9M income rises 5%

Banque du Caire’s (BdC) consolidated net income fell 20% y-o-y to EGP 4.17 bn in 3Q 2026, by our math based on the state-owned lender’s first post-IPO earnings release (pdf). Net income was also down 13.1% q-o-q in the quarter, though it’s still up 4.7% y-o-y to EGP 13.11 bn over the first nine months of the year.

Higher provisions took the biggest bite out of quarterly earnings: Expected credit loss charges (money the bank sets aside for loans it expects may not be repaid) more than doubled q-o-q to EGP 1.09 bn from EGP 489 mn. That’s roughly half of the EGP 2.1 bn the bank provisioned over the entire nine-month period, by our math. BdC also booked EGP 231 mn in other expenses, compared with EGP 115 mn in other income in 2Q. Meanwhile, core revenue (net interest income plus fees and commissions) grew just 1.7% q-o-q to EGP 11.5 bn.

The 9M picture looks a bit better once you strip out last year’s one-offs: BdC says net income would have grown around 19% y-o-y without three items that lifted its 9M 2025 earnings: income from a zero-interest subordinated loan repaid last December, dividends from its since-sold stake in Afreximbank, and FX gains on that stake. That implies the three items added around EGP 1.5 bn to last year’s bottom line, by our math. Underlying performance also held up, with core revenue rising 10.8% y-o-y to EGP 33.7 bn and provisions falling 44%, bringing the cost of risk down by roughly half to 1.03%.

Costs are growing faster than revenues: Administrative expenses climbed 18% y-o-y to EGP 12.4 bn, which BdC attributes to upgrades to its core banking systems and investments in digital banking. That pushed the cost-to-income ratio to 36% from 33.7% a year earlier.

On the balance sheet, deposit growth is outpacing lending: Customer deposits rose 17% since the start of the year to EGP 473.5 bn, with 6.7% growth in 3Q alone, while gross loans grew 11.3% to EGP 287.4 bn, including just 2.5% in the quarter. That brought the loan-to-deposit ratio down to 60.7% from 63.8% at the end of 2025. Treasury investments jumped 46% to EGP 210.6 bn.

All of that has pulled returns down from last year’s highs: Annualized return on average equity (ROAE) fell to 26.3% from 33% in 9M 2025, while net interest margin held steady at 7.2%. Asset quality was broadly stable, with the NPL ratio unchanged at 3.70%, although provision coverage slipped to 173.1% from 182.9% at the end of 2025. The bank’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 22.15%.

REFRESHER- Banque Misr sold a 45% stake in BdC through a EGP 36.37 bn (c. USD 658 mn) IPO, the biggest the EGX has seen in at least a decade. The retail tranche drew more than 27x the shares on offer. After giving up an early rally, the stock ended its first trading day up just 0.19% at EGP 5.31, barely above its EGP 5.30 offer price. Banque Misr retains the remaining 55%.