Our friends at Mashreq Egypt had a rather eventful 2024 overall, especially in the bank’s retail banking segment. EnterpriseAM spoke with Mashreq Egypt’s head of retail banking Mohamed Talaat (LinkedIn) to discuss recent trends in Egypt’s banking sector over the last year, and the challenges and the opportunities that the sector will experience this year. Below are edited excerpts from the interview.

EnterpriseAM: What did it look like to roll out new major segments and new products against the backdrop of the macroeconomic challenges Egypt has witnessed recently?

Mohamed Talaat: When you look at the opportunities, you find that we are talking about a 67 mn bankable population, which is a huge opportunity for the entire banking sector. There is also significant focus from the Central Bank of Egypt and the government on promoting financial inclusion, which has greatly facilitated our role.

Looking back at last year, part of our strategy was to increase our market share by offering diverse value-added solutions and a different kind of value proposition that caters to the needs of different customer segments. We launched two major segments — Mashreq Neo in March, and e& Mashreq Neo in April in partnership with the e& Group, with the primary goal of targeting financial inclusion.

We have already tripled our market share in the past eight months, and we ended 2024 with around 360k retail customers at Mashreq Egypt. This just goes to show the availability of opportunities in the Egyptian market.

E: Financial inclusion seems to be a clear goal for you with the launch of Mashreq Neo. What does your individual customer base currently look like?

Talaat: Our customer base is a reflection of Egypt as a whole. More than 60% of our retail customers at Mashreq Egypt are under the age of 30, with a significant portion aged 15-21. The early adopters of new technologies are around the ages of 15-30, which represent the majority of our customers.

The ease of opening and activating Mashreq Neo and e& Mashreq Neo accounts has been widely appealing to customers, who can download the Mashreq Egypt app and open a bank account in just a few minutes through simplified procedures. Customers can then activate the account at any Fawry or e& branch across the country, which are open for around 12 hours every day, seven days a week. They can then receive their banking cards within 2-3 days.

But the appeal doesn’t stop at the simplified procedures for opening an account — customers can also link their accounts to InstaPay, pay bills through it, earn points with every transaction, and receive a welcome bonus of up to EGP 2.8k.

E: In October, you decided to raise the annual yield on Mashreq Egypt saving current accounts to 23% — the highest savings account yield in the market today. Have you seen further growth since then?

Talaat: Absolutely, there has been significant demand since then. We’ve seen a significant increase in individual customer balances since that decision, which prompted us to extend this offer until the end of March 2025. We also maintain that, no matter what happens, our 23% yield, calculated daily, on savings current accounts will not drop below this level until the end of March for all deposits starting at EGP 5k. We also affirm that we will continue to offer the highest yield in the market after March.

E: The 23% yield remains a very bold step. How are you able to do that while maintaining profitability?

Talaat: The potential customer base is very large but in order to attract that base you have to work on several things, the most important being the customers’ needs. We’re always looking to meet a genuine need for the customer, focusing on offering attractive products — even if that could potentially impact our margins.

E: What are the key trends you see in the market today?

Talaat: The primary trend is the offering of products in a simplified digital format — which is aligned with the central bank and the country’s overall direction. The penetration of smartphones across Egypt has exceeded 100%, so the trend is to provide all banking services through apps available on customers’ phones. It’s not just about enhancing customer experience, but also the form of the banking product itself. Alongside ease of access, products have to meet customer needs and offer a competitive advantage in the market.

E: How do you view competition with fintech and consumer finance companies in this regard?

Talaat: I don’t see it as competition at all. You’re in a huge market with a 67 mn bankable population, 45 mn of whom already engage with banks and financial services companies — there’s still a massive opportunity for everyone. This opportunity sometimes calls for collaboration between banks and fintech companies, which we’ve seen often. Additionally, fintech companies usually focus on a limited range of services, whereas banks offer a variety of products, from savings to financing, lending, investment, and insurance.

E: What about personal financing and lending at Mashreq Egypt?

Talaat: We have already done friends and family tests for the Mashreq Neo and e& Mashreq Neo credit cards, and we’re preparing to roll them out this month. The Mashreq Neo credit card will include a number of benefits, such as 2% cashback features, installment plans, easy cash services, merchant discounts, and the option to select one of five dates for monthly credit card payment deadlines. The e& Mashreq Neo credit card will offer 3% cashback at all e& branches and 1.5% cashback at any location across Egypt. We are also planning to make personal loans available by April, with very innovative and attractive offers.

E: 2025 could potentially be entirely different for the banking sector. We might see declining interest rates, easing inflation, and the CBE’s implementation of electronic know-your-customer services (e-KYC). What is your overall outlook for 2025?

Talaat: We are very optimistic about 2025. We’re definitely looking ahead toward the implementation of e-KYC — possibly in the second half of the year — which could make a significant difference for us and for the whole banking sector. It will help expand our sales volumes, grow our customer base, and streamline all procedures. The expected reduction in interest rates next year will certainly pose a challenge for the entire sector. However, we remain committed to offering the highest returns and best benefits to our customers.

E: What opportunities and challenges do you foresee this year?

Talaat: The implementation of e-KYC services will present a tremendous opportunity for the entire banking sector, significantly improving financial inclusion and expanding access to banking services. The activation of payment card tokenization is also a major opportunity that will facilitate transactions and reduce banks’ costs. Our belief in the future and the availability of opportunities in the local market encouraged us to make significant investments in Egypt. Challenges will always exist, but we believe that with the right tools and strategy, we can capitalize on available opportunities and overcome any challenge.

E: What’s next for Mashreq Egypt? Are there more products to be announced in 2025?

Talaat: At Mashreq, we focus not only on banking products but also on non-banking features. This includes all the benefits made available through the Mashreq app, such as easy money transfers, as well as features like bill splitting, reward points on every transaction, referral bonuses, and many features that support gamification on the app for better user engagement.

As for banking products, we aim to complete our value proposition of retail banking offerings before the end of 1H 2025. So now we have Mashreq Neo and e& Mashreq Neo debit cards, we have certificates of deposits at a 19% rate, the Mashreq Millionaire Certificate, which provides a monthly chance to win EGP 13 mn, and we will soon launch credit cards then personal loans and also a foreign currency debit card.