Abstract Purpose - This research aims to understand what factors contributed to the success of Egypt's banking sector in terms of intellectual capital between 2019 and 2022. Design/methodology/approach – The effectiveness of intellectual capital as a dependent variable is investigated via multiple regression analysis, which examines the association between intellectual capital performance and a number of potential predictors. Findings – The research shows that the intellectual capital performance of Egyptian banks is significantly influenced by the age of the banks, the size of the banks, the structure of the market, and the global financial crisis. Because no comparable empirical study has been undertaken in Egypt before, the findings are crucial. Research Limitations: In order to generalise the findings, more research on the factors that affect the performance of intellectual capital is required. Further, the study's empirical tests were undertaken solely on Egyptian banks during 2019–2022, therefore its conclusions cannot be extrapolated to any other set of banks or any other period of study. Practical implications – The research could help regulators focus on the elements that affect banks' intellectual capital performance, leading to improved efficiency and productivity in the context of value generation. It's helpful for researchers and policymakers in this area because it lays out some principles to follow. Originality/value – This research contributes to the existing body of work on the factors that affect the effectiveness of banks' intellectual capital. Specifically, it investigates the novel ideas that the market structure and worldwide financial crisis affect the productivity of intellectual capital.