The Social Fund for Development (SFD) financed about 19,000 micro- and small enterprises in Minya, Beni Suef, Fayoum, New Valley and Assiut with EGP 145.3 million in the first quarter of 2013, said Ghada Wali, secretary general of SFD. On the sidelines of the conference organized by SFD to Support Upper Egypt governorates in Minya, Wali revealed that SFD financed infrastructure and societal and human development projects with about EGP 5.4 million which in turn created thousands of job for youth in these governorates in 2012 and the first quarter of 2013. SFD visited Minya so as to discuss the plans of the World Bank’s employment project which will be executed in Egypt’s 15 poorest governorates, Wali noted in a statement. SFD provides micro- and small enterprises established by people in Upper Egypt with the required finance as it financed more than 55,000 micro- and small enterprises for people in Minya, Beni Suef, Fayoum, New Valley and Assiut with EGP 401 million as well as financing infrastructure and societal and human development projects with EGP 26.6 million, she said during her keynote address at the conference. More»

Misr Insurance Company has signed a contract to insure a project of an Egyptian supply company in Iraq with US$ one billion, said Ahmed Bendary, supervisor and head of the insurance company's branch in El Sayeda Zeinab.  The insurance policy will cover all the company’s electrical equipments, cables and converters during the period of the project against all risks, he added. Misr Insurance Company has 60% market share among all insurance companies in Egypt. The company acquires 95% market share of petroleum insurance sector, 95% of engineering insurance sector, 70% of enterprise insurance, 50% of fire insurance and 70% of motor insurance. It is worth mentioning that Misr Insurance Company (non-life) succeeded in achieving premiums of EGP 2.688 billion as of the end of last March, compared to EGP 2.547 billion at the end of March 2012, registering a growth rate of 5.6% and a target percentage of 105.3%. More»

As JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)’s Jamie Dimon prepares for a vote tomorrow on whether he should keep his chairman and chief executive officer titles, he may take comfort knowing most of his biggest shareholders are led by men with the same dual role. Seven of JPMorgan’s 10 largest owners -- including top five BlackRock Inc. (BLK), Vanguard Group Inc., State Street Corp. (STT), Wellington Management Co. and FMR LLC -- are run by CEOs who are also chairmen. The top 10 hold a combined 29.5 percent of New York-based JPMorgan’s stock, data compiled by Bloomberg show. “People just like him are going to vote on this,” said Erik Gordon, a business and law professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “If you’ve told your own board that the best structure for the sake of the company is to combine the roles, then how do you turn around and say, ‘But that’s not true for JPMorgan?’” Of JPMorgan’s top 10 shareholders, only Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price, the seventh-biggest with a 2.15 percent stake, has commented publicly on Dimon’s role. Brian Rogers -- T. Rowe Price’s chairman and chief investment officer, and not the CEO - - said in a May 16 statement that “I fully support the combined chairman and CEO role at JPMorgan under the superb leadership of Jamie Dimon.” More»

The Social Fund for Development (SFD) will receive the US$ 120 million second tranche of the US$ 300 million finance which was agreed upon with the World Bank by the second half of 2013, said Essam el-Korashy, head of SME development group at SFD. SFD had earlier received the first tranche which is worth US$ 180 million by which it created 18,000 jobs, he added. El-Korashy told Amwal Al Ghad that SFD offered EGP 900 million to a number of banks and EGP 800 million to a number of non-governmental organizations which are concerned with financing small enterprises. As part of SFD’s efforts in creating jobs for youth and reduce unemployment, the Fund granted micro-enterprises EGP 200 million, he added. It is worth mentioning that this project was named the best project executed regionally with the World Bank. More»

The Cooperative Insurance Society – Egypt signed two agreements worth EGP 175 million with the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) to manage the bank’s insurance portfolio. The first agreement covers the bank’s branches in Suez Canal region which are more than 18 as well as the bank’s branches in Lower Egypt with EGP 25 million, said Refky Lotfy Rashed, managing director of CIS. The second agreement covers the bank against the Murabaha credit risks as well as risks of fire and burglary with EGP 150 million, he added. The Society also signed an agreement with the Industrial Development and Workers Bank of Egypt to insure loans offered to bakeries of Egyptian bread against credit risks including default on payment, fire and burglary with EGP 25 million and there are still talks over new insurance programs, Rashed elaborated. He added that CIS signed a contract with Banque Misr to foster mutual cooperation through offering personal loans again, noting that the Society received premiums worth EGP one million from the bank. CIS also reached an agreement with Alex Bank Intesa Sanpaolo on the method by which CIS will pay its debts as long as the Society will insure the bank. CIS also renewed its agreement with Assiut Businessmen Association to insure the credit facilities offered by the Association with insurance premium of EGP 825,000. The Society also insures Bank Audi with EGP 30 million and the Society deposits EGP 5 billion in Bank Audi. More»

The Social Fund for Development (SFD) has financed about 4590 projects totally or partly based on modern technological inputs with EGP 85 million since it was established, said Ghada Wali, secretary general of SFD. On the sidelines of Youth Employment Generation in Egypt Conference organized by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Wali revealed that the number of technological projects is so small as compared to the number of other projects in Egypt, stressing the importance of increasing the number of these projects in the upcoming period. SFD signed an agreement with Information and Communication Technology Outsourcing (ITIDA) after 2011’s revolution to finance 23 small companies in Information and Communications Technology sector with EGP 30 million, she noted. Wali affirmed that the mangers of these projects are in need to be trained on marketing skills not only to be financed, noting that there are several initiatives by SFD in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications to support small and medium-sized enterprises in this field in order to create many jobs. SFD also signed an agreement with the World Bank to finance SMEs in the field, she added. SFD is about to launch a project to mechanize the borrowing process by which customers can deal with SFD through its website without going to one of its branches, she added. More»

According to a study by Munich Re, the global insurance market will grow strongly in the years to come. Munich Re’s Insurance Market Outlook 2013 arrives at the conclusion that growth rates will be especially strong in emerging countries. Growth in the reinsurance market will be slower than that in the primary insurance industry. “The global economic recovery is also benefiting the insurance industry. We expect the economies of key industrialized countries to improve in the second half of 2013 and in 2014. Consequently, this will lend impetus to demand for insurance”, said Michael Menhart, Munich Re’s Chief Economist. According to Munich Re’s estimates, until 2020 the property-casualty insurance market as a whole will grow by approximately 50% compared with 2012 to €1.85tn, and the life insurance market by almost two-thirds to €3.1tn. Growth in insurance and reinsurance in emerging countries will be significantly stronger than in industrialized countries. Nevertheless, the mature markets in North America, western Europe and the industrialized countries of the Asia/Pacific region remain the dominating growth force. In terms of total primary insurance premiums, their share will fall back to about 73% by 2020 – around ten percentage points lower than in 2012. The share generated by the emerging countries in Asia will move up from 8% to 16%. “Approximately half of all the additional premium earned between 2013 and 2020 will come from the USA, China and Japan. In this respect, saturated markets and emerging markets both represent great potential for growth in insurance and reinsurance alike”, said Menhart. More»

The Social Fund for Development (SFD) has allocated US$ 25 million for Alexandria Business Association to finance small and micro-enterprises, said Ghada Wali, secretary general of SFD. This finance is part of the US$ 300 million secured by SFD under a protocol of cooperation on labor intensive investment project signed with the World Bank and International Union, she added. The labor intensive investment project aims at employing Egyptians all over the country through a protocol of cooperation signed with ministries such as the Ministry of Agriculture. SFS is in the sixth rank in Egypt in receiving foreign loans and grants. More»

Misr Life Insurance Company achieved premiums of EGP 1.307 billion in the first nine months of FY 2012/2013, compared to EGP 1.139 billion in the compared period, registering a growth rate of 14.8%. The company’s direct individual premiums reached EGP 669 million, compared to EGP 598 million in the corresponding period in the last fiscal year, registering an increase of 12%. Misr Insurance Company’s group insurance premiums rose 16% to reach EGP 617 million by the end of the third quarter of the current fiscal year, compared to EGP 532 million in the third quarter of the last fiscal year. The company’s health insurance premiums reached EGP 20.3 million at the end of last March, compared to EGP 8.7 million in the corresponding period in the last fiscal year, registering a growth rate of 133.3%. The value of new individual insurance policies reached EGP 3.074 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, compared to EGP 2.499 billion in the corresponding period in the last fiscal year, registering a growth rate of 23%. The value of group insurance policies reached EGP 45.938 billion at the end of last March, compared to EGP 40.268 billion at the end of March 2012, registering an increase of 14.1%. More»

Egypt's parliament approved a new income tax law on Monday that will increase levies paid by the wealthy and by companies but reduce it for people in lower income brackets. Income inequality was one of the issues that sparked the uprising that ousted autocratic president Hosni Mubarak in 2011. President Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood held up the changes as proof of its commitment to social justice - a possible vote winner with parliamentary elections approaching later this year. The new tax regime may also help Egypt in its negotiations for a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund. The IMF is asking the government to reduce a budget deficit expected to reach 11.5 percent of gross domestic product in the year to end-June. More»