Egypt Post, Banque Misr, and Visa signed a tripartite partnership to regulate digital financial services, expand their customer base, and support financial inclusion. The signing was witnessed by the Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Yasser El Kady.
The agreement was signed by Essam El-Sagheer, chairperson of Egypt Post; Mohamed Al-Etrabi, chairperson of Banque Misr; Tarek Mahfouz, executive director of Visa Egypt.
Meanwhile, El-Kady stated that Egypt has gone a long way in providing financial inclusion services, either by modernising the infrastructure or applying regulatory frameworks to work in this sector, as well as integrating ministries and stakeholders to ease the digital transformation in Egypt and integrate the informal economy into official channels.
El-Sagheer said that the agreement will enable Egypt Post to assist in the financial inclusion of the merchants and integrating them into the formal economy through its partnership with Banque Misr.
The agreement also includes the provision of ATM machines at some post offices, which contributes to increasing transactions. Banque Misr will be responsible for feeding and maintaining the machines.
The agreement allows Egypt Post to collect credit card instalments for Banque Misr customers through post offices nationwide, which will contribute to making these services available to customers on a large scale.
The agreement is the first of its kind in the Middle East and aims primarily to advance financial inclusion efforts in Egypt. This will give the clients of the two institutions the opportunity to benefit from the provision of various services in different geographical areas through Egypt Post outlets.
According to Tarek Mahfouz, the CEO of Visa Egypt, the Egyptian market is the company’s top priority in financial inclusion projects He confirmed Visa’s commitment to the World Bank to help achieve the financial inclusion targets of serving around 500 million people worldwide by 2020.
The agreement requires the cooperation of Banque Misr and the Postal Authority in expanding the acceptance of electronic payments and enabling traders in the governorates of Egypt and through Egypt Post to accept payments easily for citizens to spend their various needs using electronic payment methods.
Visa will provide all the assistance required for the success of this new form of technological cooperation in terms of products and solutions that meet the ambitions and requirements of the customers of Banque Misr and Egypt Post.
