ArabFinance: Banque du Caire (BDC) (BQDC) has decided to boost its investment in Cairo Bank Uganda to $20.2 million, Head of Investments Mohamed Ragai told Al Mal News.

The bank has increased Cairo Bank Uganda’s capital of $19.4 million by $800,000, Ragai said.

Moreover, he pointed out that BDC is currently considering raising the capital of a subsidiary operating in the security services sector.

In 2019, the board of directors of BDC approved the establishment of a company specializing in security and guard services, with EGP 5 million in seed capital.

Total investment portfolio of BDC jumped by EGP 800 million to reach EGP 3 billion in 2021, compared to EGP 2.2 billion at the end of December 2020, he highlighted.

The growth in the investment portfolio was driven by diversified sources, including pumping cash into some companies and purchasing blue-chip stocks in the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) in 2021, he noted.

The bank has also invested in investment funds such as Nclude and Avance, Ragai said.

Nclude has been recently launched by Banque Misr, National Bank of Egypt (NBE), BDC, and Global Ventures after receiving the approval of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

BDC, the 99.9%-owned by Egypt's second-largest state-owned bank Banque Misr, is the sixth-largest bank in Egypt in terms of total assets, acquiring a 3% market share in system-wide loans and deposits.

The bank also has the third-biggest customer base, with over 3 million customers.