Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait Egypt - Capital Optimization (MIGA-15671)

Countries
  • Egypt
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Dec 23, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Guarantee
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 316.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ MIGA website

Updated in EWS Dec 18, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Nov 23, 2025


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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, this summary covers equity investments by Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait (ABK), in its subsidiary in Egypt, Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait - Egypt S.A.E (ABK-Egypt or the Subsidiary). The investor has applied for a MIGA guarantee of up to USD316 million for capital optimization cover for a period of up to 3 years.

The aim of MIGA's proposed guarantees is to help ABK reduce the assessed risk of its reserves held at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), which would lead to a reduction in the group's risk-weighted assets (RWA) on a consolidated basis. The RWA capacity that is freed up is expected to be deployed by ABK in Egypt, as possible, where the lending gap is large and credit to the private sector is low. The Project would support lending operations either through an accelerated pace of leveraging (i.e. expansion of loans to customers) or a slowdown in the pace of deleveraging (i.e. retention of loans to customers), according to market conditions and ABK risk policies prevailing at that time. The proposed Project is therefore expected to increase on a best effort basis access to finance for private sector firms, including MSMEs, operating in Egypt, while encouraging climate-related lending consistent with ABK-Egypt's strategy.

 

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

ABK-Egypt provides financial products and services to individuals, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and corporate customers in Egypt. The MIGA guarantee will support lending for retail clients, MSMEs and climate finance. These transactions typically have limited environmental and social (E&S) risks and impacts that are few in number, site-specific, largely reversible and can be readily addressed through mitigation sectors. Transactions with significant adverse risks and impacts are expected to the limited in number. This project has thus been categorized as FI-2 in accordance with MIGA's Policy on Environmental and Social Sustainability (2013).

The main E&S aspects of this project relate to ABK-Egypt's ability to identify, assess, and manage the E&S risks and impacts associated with its lending activities and the management of labor and working conditions at the bank. MIGA analyzed ABK-Egypt's portfolio for types of transactions, tenors, sectors, and exposure to MIGA's Exclusion List. In addition, MIGA assessed ABK-Egypt's E&S risk management procedures for lending activities against the requirements of Performance Standard 1: Assessment and Management of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts (PS1), and the bank's labor policies and procedures against the requirements of Performance Standard 2: Labor and Working Conditions (PS2).

As of December 2025, ABK-Egypt's portfolio included the following business segments: corporate loans including MSME (predominantly short-term), 56.5%; retail/consumer loans, 28%; trade finance, 15.5%; . The sectors financed include construction; finance and insurance (non-banking financial institutions and microfinance institutions); wholesale and retail; real estate and rental services; oil and gas and mining; and manufacturing (including pharmaceuticals; fertilizers; plastics and chemicals; food and beverages; and electronics and appliances). ABK-Egypt has minimal exposure to activities on the MIGA Exclusion List and no exposure to coal-related projects. The bank has exposure to oil and gas activities; oil and gas activities will be excluded from the MIGA project.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

A MIGA guarantee of up to USD316 million for capital optimization cover for a period of up to 3 years.

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Headquartered in Kuwait, Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait - ABK was established in 1967 to support the country’s growing commercial and industrial sectors. ABK is publicly listed on the Kuwait City Stock Exchange and the largest shareholder is the Public Institution for Social Security (Public Pension Fund of Kuwait) holding 11.7% of shares, followed by the Kuwait Investment Authority holding 10.1%. 

The Group’s strategy is anchored on four pillars: (i) improving operational efficiencies, (ii) strengthening the core banking franchise, (iii) accelerating digitization to drive customer centricity, and (iv) regional diversification as a key enabler for sustainable growth. ABK is committed to sustainable growth through its alignment with the globally recognized frameworks such as the UNEP FI Principles for Responsible Banking, UN Sustainable Development Goals, New Kuwait Vision 2035, Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030, and Egypt Vision 2030. ABK Kuwait holds ratings of A- (Fitch), A2 (Moody’s), and A+  with Stable outlooks

ABK-Egypt, a subsidiary of the Group, was established in 2015 after ABK acquired 99% of Piraeus Bank Egypt’s capital. At present, ABK-Egypt serves more than 660,000 customers through 46 branches and over 2,000 employees. ABK-Egypt offers services split evenly across the Corporate Banking & Syndications unit and Consumer Banking units.  

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait K.S.C.P. Client -
- - - - Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait – Egypt S.A.E Subsidiary -

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

No contacts available at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://www.miga.org/contact/access_to_information

You can also request general information about MIGA and for information on guarantees by emailing: migainquiry@worldbank.org

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org. You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

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