Factoring is all the rage: Egyptian financial services firms are looking to get into factoring (the world’s second-oldest profession?). Sarwa Capital, which is currently in the market with one of the fall’s most hotly anticipated IPOs, could start buying accounts receivable by 2019 as part of its expansion strategy, our friend Hazem Moussa tells Al Mal. Sarwa is also planning on focusing on SME financing in the coming period, Moussa said. AT Lease is also looking to get in on the act, offering factoring and setting up a specialized SMEs unit by 2022 as part of the company’s five-year expansion plan, CEO Tarek Fahmy tells the same newspaper.

And because every investment banker is really a consumer finance guy at heart (hello, stable revenues…), HC Securities is exploring whether to launch leasing services as part of a plans to expand its portfolio of non-banking financial services. EFG Hermes kicked off the trend of bankers getting into NBFS a few years back with the successful launch of its leasing franchise, setting off something of a gold rush. Separately, HC Deputy CEO Mohamed Metwally says the firm has a mandate for a healthcare IPO that could be worth as much as EGP 1.5 bn set for execution in 4Q2018 and is arranging EGP 4 bn in funding from a consortium of banks for a non-listed food and beverage company.