Home lists 100 Most Powerful Arabs 2023 Karim Awad Group CEO and chairman of the Executive Committee, EFG Hermes Holding Origin: Egypt Residence: Egypt Sector: Finance Under Awad’s leadership, EFG Hermes has advised on two IPOs since the beginning of 2023, adding to a growing list of landmark transactions that the investment bank closed in 2022, which are valued at $12.8bn. The banking group’s Q3 2022 net profit soared by 70 per cent y-o-y to $23.2m (EGP716m), revenues almost doubled to EGP2.3bn while assets stood at EGP97bn. EFG Hermes’ success under Awad has made the bank a target for several takeover bids over the past decade, including from Qatar-based Q Invest in 2013, billionaire Naguib Sawiris in 2014 and First Abu Dhabi Bank in 2022. Since he was appointed as group CEO in 2013, EFG Hermes’ frontier and emerging markets footprint has expanded across four continents to 14 countries.