Egypt’s investment fund industry hit EGP 411 bn in 1Q 2026, up 30% in a quarter
Our investment fund industry has become a EGP 411 bn parallel route for household savings by the end of 1Q 2026, up 30% in a single quarter and increasingly used by retail investors who previously parked money in physical gold, real estate units, or bank deposits. The shift isn’t replacing the deposit base — fund total Net Asset Value (NAV) sits at roughly 3% of bank deposit levels — but rather opening a regulated, lower-ticket channel for households to gain exposure to the very asset classes they’ve long preferred, the Financial Regulatory Authority's latest report (pdf) shows. The number of funds rose to 187 from 172, while the number of certificates jumped 54.7% q-o-q to 31.4 bn.
This is Egypt’s old savings playbook in a lower-ticket wrapper. Households that have long used physical gold and real estate units to preserve value are now being offered regulated products that mimic that exposure without the same entry ticket. “Funds have become very accessible from everywhere. It is a sign of rising investor awareness, wider use of fintech, and a much higher level of trust in the investment fund product,” Azimut Egypt Managing Director Ahmed Abou El Saad tells EnterpriseAM. Macro analyst Rania Yacoub agrees that this is a retail access story, telling us that “this clearly showed up in the rise in the number of coded investors on the EGX,” which climbed by 215% y-o-y during the first quarter of the year, according to FRA Head Islam Azzam. The NBFI sector “was able to attract investors — and not only investors who used to invest through banks, but new segments of citizens,” Yacoub tells us.
Behind the bns
The scale check still favours the banks. Fund NAV at EGP 411 bn sits against bank deposits at roughly EGP 13-14 tn before end-2025, macro expert Moustafa Badra tells EnterpriseAM — funds are now a parallel channel, not a substitute. “Let's separate the two, because this has its customer and that has its customer,” Badra says. “Despite the major expansion in funds and their ability to attract large investments and money, the entrenched base for many investors is still certificates and bank deposits.” Abou El Saad makes the same point: CDs still work for savers who depend on fixed income to meet living expenses, while funds give more flexible investors a different tool. “[CDs] have their people, but for people for whom certificates were not the right product, funds created another option,” he tells us.
Money is not waiting to rotate — it has a job. Money market funds dominate the industry, holding EGP 276.3 bn in NAV at end-March (67% of the market) and accounting for 54.1% of all fund certificates. They delivered an average 4.44% return in 1Q, with the best-performing money market funds coming in above that average: Iskan Ins.’s Kol Youm returned 6.37% in 1Q after delivering 24.7% in 2025, while Basata Cash returned 5.22% and Wethaq 5.20%. That concentration isn't a warning sign. “Most citizens investing in money market funds are doing it because they want to preserve the value of their money, earn the highest possible return, and still be able to withdraw that liquidity at any time to face daily needs,” Yacoub says. Abou El Saad is more direct: “If you look at the structure of investment funds in any country in the world, you will find it very close to these numbers. Money market funds usually make up 60-80% of any fund market globally.”