Egypt became one of the leading countries that support woman’s role at economic development

FRA’s decision to be the basis for promoting woman’s vital role through various career paths

Cairo, 17 September 2019

Top 50 Women Forum affirmed that the Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA)’s newly issued decision is considered a major victory for women, which will entirely boost the State’s economy.  The new amendments, issued by the Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), mandate that publicly listed companies as well as non-banking financial firms must work to increase women’s representation on boards.

In its statement, Top 50 Women Forum highlighted that it gave a top priority to increasing women’s representation inquiry within the last two years. Women’s representation on boards is of paramount importance on the institutional level in the light of women’s effective role in economic development strategy adopted by the political leadership.

It is worth noting that eight women hold seats as ministers in Egypt’s current cabinet.

FRA’s decision is considered a step to advance Egypt’s rankings in the Doing Business Report. FRA also adopts a policy for achieving sustainable development, boosting women’s empowerment and representation on boards.

Top 50 Women Forum referred to FRA’s decision as a major support for the forum’s last achievements and coming plans towards raising woman’s representation on boards. Such achievement could be a starting point for all entities in Egypt to adopt similar policies for women empowerment as well as amending the related regulations applied by the private sector.

According to the forum, such decision to be the basis for promoting woman’s effective corporate board representation in Egypt.  FRA’s decision will make a clear difference through supporting women at holding leading positions as well as having effective roles at the development process.

The forum also revealed that Egypt became one of the leading countries that support woman’s role at economic development, including Sweden, the UAE, UK, France and Norway. UK took legislative action for higher female representation on boards of directors. Norway also called for increasing the quota for women on corporate boards to 40%.

The French government sets an action plan till 2022 to end the unjustified gender wage gap.

Egypt is working on a strategy focusing on boosting women’s empowerment in its future development strategy, looking forward supporting women’s effective role at achieving sustainable development by 2030. This strategy includes 4 integrated axes: political empowerment, economic empowerment, social empowerment, and security.

FRA’s Chairman, Mohammad Omran, says that FRA’s Board had approved at its meeting yesterday an amendment to listing and delisting rules by introducing a clause in Article 6 of FRA’s Board’s decision no. 11 of 2014 on listing and delisting rules, namely the necessity of women’s representation on corporate Boards. This is in addition to amending decision no. 53 of 2018 on licensing requirements and rules of ownership of shares of companies operating in non-banking financial activities.

Dr. Omran stresses that women’s representation on corporate Boards achieves many national and international goals, including the implementation of the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030, setting the target for women in senior management posts by 2030 at 30% and achieving Sustainable Development Goals.

FRA’s Chairman explains that international experiences related to gender diversity on corporate boards have shown better corporate performance. He adds that this is consistent with the positive indicators of a study conducted in Egypt by an international body to monitor the impact of women’s representation on corporate Boards in nearly 2139 Egyptian companies representing two groups of private and public companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Exchange.

Indicators showed that companies with women’s representation achieve higher profitability rates and better financial strength. Also, the study which was conducted during 2014- 2016 showed that companies with women on their boards achieved higher ROE’s of 2% , 4% in return on assets and 5% in return on sales. In addition, companies that take into account gender diversity on corporate boards prefer equity financing and are less reliance on debt.

Moreover, Private companies with female representation on boards and a workforce of both sexes (a mix of at least 25% females) have made remarkable progress in profitability measures; more than double the rate of profit growth and greater financial capacity. Also, Private companies showed 8% growth in return on equity and return on assets and 7% in return on sales.

The 50 Top -most influential women forum acts as first of its kind growing network women leaders in business, who had been awarded and recognized as the top 50 most influential women in a ceremony held in January 2016 under the auspices of Egypt’s Prime Minister. Top 50 Women Forum includes high profile executives, entrepreneurs, ministers, and senior officials at major financial and banking institutions. The forum is committed to approach of strengthening Egyptian woman’s role as a partner in economic development.