Eitesal Association announced on Sunday its new initiative “Meet the Officials”, which is set to launch on 2 April in cooperation with Banque Misr.
Through this initiative, Eitesal will host Sahar El Damaty, vice president of Banque Misr, will open a direct dialogue with Eitesal’s member companies surrounding the leading role of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector in the banking sector.
Eitesal Association Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Chedid said, “this initiative comes after the success of a similar initiative two years ago, “Meet the Government”. The previous initiative was welcomed by the Egyptian government and companies operating in the ICT sector, from which more than 800 companies participated.”
He added, “the meeting comes in light of developments in the Egyptian economy in general and the banking sector in particular through the economics of digital transformation and financial inclusion in Egypt, as well as the transformation into a cashless society, and the role of Eitesal’s ambitious member companies, which can be benefited from.”
He pointed out that the meeting will also discuss ways of financing ICT companies under the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) initiative which launched more than a year ago. ICT plays an important role in increasing the competitiveness of banks and providing unprecedented services to customers. The ICT sector was a main player in turning banks to electronic transactions, the expansion of electronic commerce use, and the provision of advanced banking services.
Gartner, one of the world’s leading research and advisory companies, estimated the Middle East spending on ICT this year at $155bn, stressing that the main sectors that will boost the growth of ICT spending in the region are the banking and securities sector, which will grow by 3.6%, insurance by 2.9%, and retail by 2.8%. The increasing spending of the banking sector on ICT, according to Garnet, is based on the growing trends of digital business and investments in advanced technologies such as analytics, blockchain, and artificial intelligence.
