Karim Awad

Karim Awad serves as Group CEO of EFG Hermes, the largest investment bank and securities firm in the Middle East and North Africa region. Based in Cairo, EFG Hermes operates across Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and several other MENA and African markets, offering investment banking, asset management, securities brokerage, and research services. Under Awad's leadership, EFG Hermes has undergone a strategic transformation from a pure-play investment bank into a diversified financial services group. The most significant pivot has been the aggressive expansion into non-bank financial services (NBFS) through its platform EFG Finance, which includes consumer finance, leasing, microfinance, insurance, and mortgage products. The company also launched valU, a buy-now-pay-later fintech platform targeting Egypt's large underbanked consumer market. Awad's key strategic decisions include the pace of geographic expansion across Africa (a continent with enormous financial services growth potential), investment in fintech platforms, balance sheet management across volatile frontier market currencies, and navigation of Egyptian monetary policy — particularly the significant pound devaluations that have impacted reported results. His ability to grow the NBFS segment while maintaining leadership in investment banking across MENA markets drives EFG Hermes' stock performance on the Egyptian Exchange.