A common mindset in Egypt is not to risk all financial assets into buying items, especially consumer products or depreciating assets. However many consumers were not able to find a solution until Contact Financial Holding came into the market back in 2001, to provide a seamless non-banking financial service experience that millions of Egyptians use today to either maintain their financial assets or simply manage their financial incomes.
Contact Financial Holding (CFH – listed in EGX as CNFN.CA) is the first company in Egypt that provides Consumer Finance in its latest form. Since its kickoff in 2001, it is the largest group in Egypt to provide a diverse financing service across 26 different companies that range from auto and truck financing, consumer finance, insurance services, mortgage, and home finishing finance, all the way to SME services such as leasing and factoring and debt capital market services like securitization and asset management.
With over 32 branches across Egypt, CFH was able to gain the confidence of Egyptian consumers and businesses with its quick-to-access financing products. This reflects confidence in an entity that has been working tirelessly for the past two decades to expand services to meet consumer demand for the service.
This success translated in a massive expansion within Egypt, yet between 2020 and 2021 the geographical expansion rate reached 138.46% while branch expansion reached 155.56% – which shows a strong direction by CFH to reach out to all segments in Egypt – in part of the country’s direction for financial inclusion.
The non-banking financial services provided by CFH are broken into three main lines of service; the first which addresses the retail sector – this is where Contact Credit, a subsidiary company of CFH, comes with dedicated products to retail clients.
Contact Auto is the first of many products CFH established through its subsidiary Contact Credit. Since it began operations in 2001, it successfully established relations with all auto dealers and official distributers across Egypt – giving clients the chance to buy whatever car they want even if it is a pre-owned car. It is considered the largest portfolio of auto financing in Egypt
Contact Trucks follows the same model as Contact Auto, however this is a dedicated service for buying trucks – both light and heavy. And established a well-made connections with all light and heavy truck dealers across the country.
Regarding consumer finance, Contact Shopping provides a solution for clients to purchase consumer goods, enroll in sporting clubs, pay education tuitions, and purchase medical services in addition to pay for tourism trips. This financial solution helps many Egyptian individuals and families combat the effects of global inflation levels that hit many markets around the world – as the service offers to install any purchase up to 36 months (3 years) so they can manage their financing incomes and expenditures.
And for clients who wish to buy homes and property – Contact Mortgage is a turn-key solution for home buyers to buy financeable homes. And with its latest partnership with real estate search engine “Sakneen”, the home buying experience transformed into a seamless one, using 3D technology to tour houses online and make down payments and payment plans for the desired housing without having the go on several locations.
Contact Finishing is another service provided by CFH where it helps home owners to finish their homes or renew their interiors using a wide network of merchants and material providers that give clients a wide range of materials and styles to select from.
Yet homes and properties need insurance service in case of any emergencies, Contact Insurance Brokerage helps many find the insurance service they need and with the best prices in the market – as it is one of the largest insurance brokers in Egypt that works to provide the best insurance plans for clients despite their need; weather its to insure a car or house or even a whole business.
CFH discovered a need for supporting local SMEs by providing professional financial services to support growing businesses. This is where Contact Leasing and Contact Factoring play an important role to bring cash-inflows for businesses who want to maintain assets and expand more into their sectors.
But SME’s is not the only focus when it comes to providing these professional financial services – this is where Sarwa Capital comes to support major corporations with debt capital market services that range from securitization and underwriting all the way to asset management. Sarwa Capital – to date – is the largest issuer of Sukuk (a lending tool that abides by Islamic laws) in Egypt with over EGP 2.5 billion.
Although having an insurance brokerage service would seem sufficient, yet CFH’s belief to provide top-notch service is the reason why two specialized insurance companies were introduced to support clients further. Sarwa Insurance is a main player in the Egyptian insurance market, as it provides, to date, the highest auto claims in the market – in addition to providing both retail and corporate services which range from the typical types of property insurance all the way to specialized insurance services for corporates working in the fields of Maritime and Engineering.
Sarwa Life on the other hand is another insurance arm for CFH that provides medical insurance and life insurance services, with a network including thousands of hospitals and medical facilities across Egypt. Recently Sarwa Life Insurance has been working closely with the local community to raise awareness about importance of life insurance and how such a service would be beneficial for families and individuals.
This level of operation shows commitment by CFH towards the Egyptian market and therefore the Economy, as this pushed CFH’s CEO, Said Zater, to become the first president of the Egyptian Federation for Consumer Finance Corporations (EFCFC) – as both a testimony and vote of confidence for CFH’s leadership of the non-banking financial services sector in Egypt.
The impact of CFH’s expansion, especially with maintaining growth during the 2020 pandemic and expanding geographically at a higher rate in 2021, shows a strong alignment with the Egypt’s direction for financial inclusion and digital transformation – as many clients resort to the Contact app to explore and request services, in addition to a loyalty program first implemented by CFH in the industry. The reliance on non-banking financial services increased in the past few years, as it breaks boundaries that the banking sector couldn’t for a large part of Egyptians who find it troublesome to go to bank branches and fill in applications. CHF was able to bridge this gap by helping clients enroll into Egypt’s financial system and thus become part of Egypt’s grand plan to rise its economy away from blackmarkets and grey economies.
The impact of this on the Egyptian economy is quite evident – more and more businesses expand as payment facilitation services offered by CFH help consumers buy goods, thus creating a healthy demand on products and services in which accelerates the macro cycle of the economy and pushes the flow of funds, investments and FDI’s towards growth.
CFH will continue to lead the non-banking finance sector with over 21 years of experience in the field, and the trust of Egyptians in what is considered a proven solution to boost a strong economy even in the hardest of times.