Karim Awad

Karim Awad serves as Group CEO of EFG Hermes Holding, the publicly traded parent entity that encompasses the EFG Hermes investment banking franchise and its rapidly expanding non-bank financial services (NBFS) operations. The holding company structure provides investors with exposure to both the cyclical investment banking business and the growing, more predictable consumer finance operations. EFG Hermes Holding's strategic value proposition has evolved significantly under Awad's leadership. While the investment banking arm remains the largest and most recognized in MENA — leading in equity capital markets, M&A advisory, and securities brokerage — the NBFS segment through EFG Finance has become the primary growth engine, offering consumer lending, leasing, insurance, microfinance, and the valU buy-now-pay-later platform. Awad's key challenges at the holding level include managing capital allocation between the investment banking and NBFS segments, navigating Egyptian macroeconomic volatility (multiple pound devaluations have impacted reported financials), optimizing the holding company discount (the holding typically trades below the sum of its parts), and expanding the NBFS platform across Africa. His strategic decisions on geographic expansion, fintech investment, and balance sheet management across frontier market currencies are the primary drivers of the holding company's stock on the Egyptian Exchange.