Banque Misr, Egypt's second-largest bank by assets, has signed a senior unsecured Sustainability Linked Loan of up to USD 100 million — equivalent to approximately EUR 85 million — with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the EBRD announced on 11 July 2025. The agreement is the EBRD's first sustainability-linked loan to a financial institution in Egypt.
The facility supports Banque Misr's sustainability targets and focuses on two principal areas, alongside green lending to private MSMEs: expanding access to finance for women-led or women-owned micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and supporting affordable housing for low-income individuals across Egypt. If the bank meets the agreed key performance indicators, it stands to benefit from more favourable pricing conditions.
Sustainability-linked structures — as distinct from use-of-proceeds instruments — tie pricing to the borrower's performance across its lending book rather than ring-fencing a discrete tranche of funds for a specific project.
REGULATORY FRAMEWORK AND EBRD RELATIONSHIP
Egypt's planning minister and EBRD governor, Rania Al-Mashat, credited the Central Bank of Egypt and the Financial Regulatory Authority with refining the regulatory framework to allow new financial instruments into the market. The loan introduces Banque Misr to the sustainability-linked loan market and deepens a relationship with the EBRD that dates back to 2017, when the bank signed its first small business loan, followed by trade finance in 2018, a USD 200 million package in 2020 and USD 100 million green financing loans in 2022 and 2023.