Purpose: Paper aims to evaluate the performance of working banks in Egypt.
Design/methodology/approach – This is done via total factor productivity (TFP) and technical efficiency(TE) through Malmquist index and data envelopment analysis (DEA). Data incorporate annual statements from 2010 to 2021 for 26 different sorts of banks. TE and TFP are regressed against bank's size, age, number of branches, and ATMs to detect their impact on TE and TFP.
Findings –  Results  reveal  discrepancy on TE and TFP among banks. Productivity gains are mainly derived from technical progress than efficiency improvements. Moreover, TE scores for net profits and investment indicators have poor performance for all banks. Provided loans' performance is not as hoped relative to collected deposits. Public banks perform better than Arab and foreign banks for size and age. Islamic banks perform better than conventional banks since they have wide range of diversified products that suit clients' preferences. Thus, banks have to  set policies that aim to manage deposits and investments efficiently to enhance performance and profits. Moreover, conventional banks have to diversify products to improve performance. Small and less-productive banks have to merge with large ones to enhance performance.
Originality/value – The paper aims to fill the gap for the lack of papers that measure banking performance in Egypt as a case of developing countries via TFP. Moreover, propose ways to enhance the performance of less-productive and inefficient banks