AAIB cements turnaround with milestone results

Founded in 1964, Arab African International Bank (AAIB) was Egypt’s first multinational bank. Today, with a significant presence across Egypt supported by operating branches in the UAE, AAIB has grown into a leading regional banking institution, offering an extensive portfolio of products and services.

The bank’s most recent results underline that scale. For the year ending 31 December 2025, AAIB delivered robust profitability and balance sheet growth, despite an easing interest rate environment.

In this exclusive interview, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Tamer Waheed sets out the strategies behind the bank’s success.

What do the latest results signal about AAIB’s market performance?

As we close 2025, we have completed one of the most significant institutional turnarounds in just under three years. During the period, the bank successfully regained its market presence and materially increased its market share. Total assets more than doubled, exceeding $20 billion, while net profits rose 20 per cent to $362 million – up from previous levels of around $100 million and representing a more than six-fold increase in peer-comparable local currency terms.

The bank entered 2025 with strong momentum. Following two consecutive years of market-leading deposit growth, AAIB leveraged its strengthened liquidity position to grow total corporate and consumer assets by $1.5 billion. This expansion enabled the bank to restore its leadership positions across investment banking, debt capital markets and corporate banking transactions, reflecting renewed brand strength and disciplined execution. This progress was recognised with the Best Investment Bank in Egypt 2025 award by International Banker.

What are the key indicators of the bank’s financial progress?

The expansion across corporate and consumer assets was accompanied by a management focus on restoring asset quality, following a surge in the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio to 12 per cent in 2021. Through multiple portfolio realignment initiatives and substantial recoveries, AAIB’s NPL ratio declined to 2.1 per cent, reflecting a full normalisation of credit risk metrics within market parameters. In addition, the liquidity coverage ratio and capital adequacy remained robust at 326 per cent and 19.3 per cent respectively, providing resilience against market volatility while supporting disciplined balance sheet expansion.

Strong performance across key business segments, prudent asset-liability management and disciplined risk management helped offset tangible downward pressures on earnings resulting primarily from a declining interest rate environment and significant compression in fee tariffs following the normalisation of FX markets and the return to a highly competitive trade finance landscape. Despite these headwinds, in 2025 AAIB maintained net interest income and net banking income above prior-year levels, at $602 million and $714 million respectively, while return on average equity increased to 13 per cent. Today, as the largest USD-based financial institution in the local market, AAIB’s CDS-adjusted return to shareholders stands firmly within the range of leading regional and international banks.

What steps have you taken to cement those gains?

In parallel with this financial recovery, we significantly strengthened the bank’s risk management, control and governance frameworks. These efforts elevated internal standards and institutionalised international best practices across the organisation.

Reinforcing this progress is AAIB’s achievement of the ISO 9001 certification for quality management systems, covering internal policies and procedures, while its internal audit function continues to operate at the highest level of conformance with global internal audit standards.

While delivering strong financial performance, management’s strategic focus remained centred on technology and human capital as pillars of sustained value creation and future readiness. In 2025, AAIB overhauled its technology operating model while launching the largest core banking system upgrade in recent years, scheduled for delivery in 2026. This followed the successful migration of foreign operations into one of the most advanced core banking platforms, enabling AAIB to progressively integrate into an increasingly digital and rapidly evolving financial ecosystem.

On the human capital front, 2025 marked the most extensive management rotation in recent years, designed to promote career mobility, broaden leadership exposure and further strengthen institutional depth. The bank also accelerated its up-skilling and re-skilling programmes to start building a rounded, multi-skilled and future-ready workforce for an increasingly technology- and AI-driven environment.

How is AAIB advancing its sustainability agenda?

The 2025 financial year marked the release of AAIB’s Sustainable Bond Allocation and Impact Report, following its issuance of Egypt’s first sustainable bond – the largest by an African bank valued at $500 million. This milestone received international recognition, earning AAIB Best Sustainability Bond at the EMEA Finance Awards and Best Sustainable Bank in Egypt from International Banker.

Further supporting a future-ready workplace, the bank has been progressing on multiple technologically advanced, LEED-certified headquarters developments, expanding AAIB’s footprint across Greater Cairo – including the New Administrative Capital, Cairo East and Cairo West, with the latter scheduled to become operational in 2027.

How do you position the bank to navigate geopolitical turbulence?

In 2025, we finalised our 2030 Strategy, designed for a world increasingly defined by economic uncertainty, geopolitical complexity and technological change. The strategy places flexibility, resilience and disciplined execution at its core, ensuring that AAIB remains agile while continuing to deliver sustainable value for customers and shareholders. Over the past few years, the bank has rebuilt scale, regained market share and restored brand strength. Having successfully completed this phase of transformation, our strategic priority now shifts from expansion to optimisation. In a geopolitical environment where global investment flows remain selective and risk-sensitive, that means focusing on balance sheet efficiency, increasing capital allocation discipline and optimising the composition of its asset base.

Looking ahead, we remain confident in the bank’s long-term prospects. With a stronger balance sheet, a revitalised brand and a clear strategic roadmap for the years ahead, we believe AAIB is entering its next phase of development from a position of strength, capable of consistently delivering sustainable value to our shareholders, clients and the economies we serve.