State-owned electronic payments firm E-Finance is preparing to issue 4.5m automated cards that will be integral to the automation of the payment of public employees’ salaries. The system is expected to be fully activated by October.
E-Finance said in a statement that they have finished preparing the database for 5.12 million public employees.
In 2015, the Egyptian government, represented by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb and Minister of Planning Ashraf El-Araby, decided that the automatised payment of public employees’ salaries would begin at the start of the FY 2015/2016.
The move is considered to be a step to engage more people in the Egyptian banking system, as the service will be offered to 6.5 million public employees.
In that regard, the Ministry of Finance held numerous meetings in early May 2015 with several banks regarding the automated mechanism. The most prominent of which was with the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and the Housing and Development Bank.
A total of 11 banks, including Piraeus Bank and the Commercial International Bank (CIB), have been contracted by E-Finance Company to prepare the automated mechanism that will pay public sector salaries.
Around 1.36m cards were handed to employees in 2015, according to E-Finance.
The Egyptian banking system provides services for 6 million to 8 million customers, a fraction of Egypt’s 90 million citizens.
