(Ecofin Agency) - The Egyptian financial services provider EFG Hermes plans to add insurance and mortgage lending to its services, Reuters reported on November 26, 2018, citing one of the firm’s managers.  

“We will study the practices (of non-banking financial services) after obtaining the necessary regulatory permissions”, said Karim Awad (photo), EFG Hermes’ managing director.

"We really intend to enter a new market in Asia or Africa within a year", he added.

In September 2018, Bloomberg reported that EFG Hermes was planning to acquire an investment banking license from Nigerian authorities to offer its services in West Africa.

In July 2018, EFG Hermes also announced the purchase of the Nigerian broker Primera Africa which is its second purchase in Africa after the purchase of a Kenyan broker in July 2017.

Leading IPO consultant in the MENA region, EFG Hermes recruited Ali Khalpey, last year, to create a unit dedicated to frontier markets. Since then, the group has established subsidiaries in Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Pakistan.