CEO Today Africa Awards

EGYPT 19 www.ceotodaymagazine.com CEO Today Africa Awards 2018 ABOUT HISHAM EZZ AL-ARAB Mr. Hisham Ezz Al-Arab has been chairman and managing director of CIB since 2002. He leads today a team of more than 6,500 professionals who have transformed the institution from a wholesale lender into Egypt’s largest private- sector bank, leading the sector on key metrics including revenue, profitability, net worth and market share of deposits. CIB serves more than 1 million customers, from individual customers to small- and medium-sized businesses and leading corporations, among them Egypt’s 500 largest companies. The Bank’s market capitalisation has grown from EGP 1 billion at the beginning of Mr. Ezz Al-Arab’s term to EGP 90 billion, making its stock — a blue chip component of the Egyptian Exchange — the global investment community’s preferred proxy for Egypt and a benchmark for the banking industry in emerging markets. Core to the Bank’s success is its unique culture, which balances an entrepreneurial spirit that prizes innovation with a commitment to global best practices in both corporate governance and risk management. That culture, nurtured over more than 15 years, is the Bank’s natural competitive advantage and led directly to the establishment of the first-of-its kind employee stock ownership program (ESOP) in 2006, thus aligning the interest of employees to that of shareholders. In 2010, Mr. Ezz Al-Arab brought to life the CIB Foundation, which is a leading Egyptian voice for universal access to quality healthcare extended to underprivileged children. CIB was named Euromoney’s Best Bank in the Middle East and Best Bank in Global Emerging Markets for 2017 and was named African Banker’s 2016 Socially Responsible Bank of the Year. Mr. Ezz Al-Arab was recognised in 2016 by Euromoney for his “Outstanding Contribution to Financial Services in the Middle East” and was EMEA Finance’s “Best CEO in Egypt and Africa” at the magazine’s 2014 Banking Awards. Under his leadership, CIB was named the “World’s Best Bank in the Emerging Markets” by Euromoney at the Global Awards for Excellence ceremony held in July 2017, thus becoming the first bank in Egypt, Africa and the Middle East to ever win this award. Mr. Ezz Al-Arab leads the Federation of Egyptian Banks as Chairman, is a member of the Institute of International Finance’s Emerging Markets Advisory Council and serves as a director of Master- Card Middle East’s Regional Advisory Board. He is also the Chairman of Board of Trustees of the CIB Foundation. Mr. Ezz Al-Arab is Non-Executive Director of Ripplewood Advisors MENA Holdings, a Non-Executive Director of Fairfax Africa Board and a Non- executive Director of Atlas Mara. Mr. Ezz Al-Arab joined CIB from Deutsche Bank and previously served with both JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch in postings that took him to Bahrain, New York and Cairo. He holds a BA in Commerce from Cairo University. FIRM PROFILE Commercial International Bank was established in 1975 as a joint venture between the National Bank of Egypt (51%) and the Chase Manhattan Bank (49%) under the name “Chase National Bank of Egypt”. Following Chase’s decision to divest its equity stake in 1987, National Bank of Egypt (NBE) increased its shareholding to 99.9%, and the Bank changed its name to Commercial International Bank (Egypt) S.A.E. NBE’s stake gradually decreased through several public offerings till it reached 18.7%. In 2006, a Consortium led by Ripplewood Holdings acquired the NBE stake. In July 2009, Actis a leading emerging markets private equity firm, invested US$ 244 million to acquire shares in CIB. Hence, Actis acquired 50% of the stake held by the Consortium led by Ripplewood Holdings. Five months later, Ripplewood sold its remaining position of 4.7% in CIB through the open market. This move marked the successful transition of strategic partnership to be with Actis, who then became the largest shareholder in CIB with a 9.1% stake. In March 2014, Actis sold a portion of its holding in CIB, representing 2.6% of the Bank’s total outstanding shares, in the open market to a group of international investors. Later in the year, Actis, has successfully realised its investment in Commercial International Bank (CIB )and has sold its remaining 6.5% to Subsidiaries wholly owned by Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd (“Fairfax”) in May 2014. Commercial International Bank (CIB) is the leading private sector bank in Egypt, offering a broad range of financial products and services to its customers, which include enterprises of all sizes, institutions, households and high-net worth individuals. The Bank strives to provide clients with superior financial solutions to meet all of their financial needs. Having the strongest brand equity rightfully places CIB as the bank of choice for over 500 of Egypt’s largest corporations. Moreover, CIB shows tremendous upside potential within the bourgeoning Retail and SME Banking markets. Through its superior management, high operating standards, corporate governance best practices and premier training programs, CIB has succeeded in becoming the most profitable commercial bank operating in Egypt for more than 40 years. www.cibeg.com HISHAM EZZ AL-ARAB Chairman & Managing Director of Commercial International Bank