Tamer Waheed, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, commented, AAIB delivered a strong set of results YE 2023. With over a EGP 100 billion growth in local currency deposits, a strong 82% YoY growth rate, while FCY deposits showed solid 43% YoY increase, we closed the year with unprecedented real growth in total deposits reaching 64% YoY, and +80% peer -to- peer growth. Meanwhile, we maintained a balanced net loan book real growth of 13% YoY and 23% peer -to- peer growth, while managing down the NPLs ratio, and maintained a balanced growth across all bank segments. We further restored our CASA contribution to total deposit to record 58%, gaining additional 12% of our deposit composition YTD and leaving us with a relatively flexible funding base in preparation for the anticipated monetary easing cycle as regional and global tensions calm down. He added, we witnessed a substantial boost in our market share on key metrices, we grew our deposit book by a growth over 2.8x that of peers albeit fierce competition while total footings showed a significant 65% peer to peer growth to stand at an all-time high of USD 17.4bn, largely surpassing peers' growth by 2x. Consequently, AAIB showed a strong operating performance, Net Interest Income increased to USD 506 million YTD, representing a nominal growth of 22% and a peer-to-peer comparable growth of 91%, while F&C income strongly advanced to land USD 92mn despite disrupted trade & international card business during the year. On the same front, Net Banking Income grew by 17% nominally to reach USD 593 million, a peer-to-peer growth of 83%. As a result, AAIB's net profit reached USD 228 million by YE 2023, compared to USD 143 million in 2022, marking a nominal growth of 59%, and a peer – to – peer growth of 148% YoY, despite running elevated provisioning levels amid economic uncertainty and geopolitical challenges. The solid earnings translated into a double digit ROAE of 10.2% stretching by 400bps over our performance last year. We continue to operate with a very comfortable capital base with our capital adequacy ratio holding to 20.4%. We showed a massive strip in liquidity and solvency ratios with our LCR doubling to 374% from 187% at Dec-22, while our local currency and foreign currency Liquidity ratio amply far ahead regulatory thresholds at 27% and 95% respectively. While we continue to re-incept the trust and empowerment in our human capital, we see our human capital turnover materially decreasing backed by reconsolidation of strategic directions and series of management interventions to promote a collaborative performance-based culture. On another front, AAIB remains committed to supporting the transition to a low-carbon future, a cornerstone of our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) agenda. We oversee the integration and implications of ESG strategy, risk framework, and policy implementation, cultivating a corporate culture that recognizes the importance of ESG matters in business and promotes collaboration and capacity building across various business lines. As we move forward, monetary, and fiscal tightening together with the geopolitical tensions have triggered unprecedented forces that cause us to remain cautious on asset liability management and provisioning. We will continue to observe the market response to the recent policy rate hike and other tightening measures, nevertheless we remain confident to deliver sustainable and healthy returns, build up the momentum of business growth and diversification, invest in technology and innovation, strengthen our leadership position in the Egyptian banking sector, while expand our international operations. Waheed further commented, navigating the historical trails of reduced profitability, substantially elevated NPLs, stalling deposits growth and single digit returns on equity, "Today, we can confidently state that AAIB is back on track with a performance that positions us among the top performing banks within the system.
