Ayman Hussein, sub-governor for payment systems and information technology at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), said that the CBE will officially launch the national payment card in electronic markets by the end of December, which will allow cash withdrawals, adding that the Housing and Development Bank (HDB) launched an experimental card months ago.
“Many countries launched similar cards, such as Russia, India, and Turkey,” noted Hussein, adding that the CBE aims at increasing electronic payments to 10% over the coming three years, from 2-3% currently.
“A 10% increase in the electronic payments helps raising GDP with $1.5bn, as well as creating 200,000 job opportunities,” said Hussein on the sidelines of 2018 African Caucus annual meetings that ended Monday, adding that the value of real time gross settlement (RTGS) is at EGP 34tn annually, noting that clients of pre-payment cards reached 32 million, while banking mobile accounts are at 11 million accounts representing 9.5 million people, adding that clients of internet banking reached 2 million.
Hussein said that the CBE received requests from banks for getting digital bank licences, but he denied revealing their names or numbers.
Additionally, he noted that the CBE is expected to launch a new system for electronically saving and trading governmental financial bonds.
Hussein said that the law of non-cash payment, which was prepared in collaboration with the ministries of finance and planning, includes incentives for encouraging e-payments, adding that the CBE sent letters to banks that are seeking to obtain mobile payment acceptance licences, including setting a marketing plan for the service and the numbers of operations that can be conducted. Hussein added that the CBE will provide limited numbers of licences, adding, “This step is complementary with the QR code, which was launched last January.”
In January, the CBE launched a QR code-based payment system to facilitate electronic payments, local media reported.
