The Bank has signed a partnership agreement with Aman Microfinance Company to automate the disbursement of microcredit and instalment payments to its customers. The partnership comes as part of the bank’s ambitious strategy to expand electronic payment methods and boost the digital economy.
Hisham Okasha, chairperson of the NBE, said that the bank puts financial inclusion as one of its main priorities and objectives, to attract different segments of customers to join under the umbrella of the formal sector and the banking system.
He explained that the bank is continuously introducing new products and services that will meet the needs of different segments of customers, including individuals who benefit from microfinance.
Okasha emphasized the importance of microcredit and its role in supporting the national economy, as it meets the needs of a large number of citizens exceeding 100,000 annually, and a large share of which is dedicated to Egyptian women heads of households.
He added that this is what prompted the NBE to move towards the automation of services provided to this segment of customers to facilitate them.
For his part, Yehia Aboul Fotouh, deputy chairperson of the NBE, said that through this partnership with Aman, the company will issue prepaid national cards to customers benefiting from microcredit.
He explained that the company’s customers will be exempted from the costs of issuing cards, in addition to facilitating the issuance procedures, and will be received immediately from the various branches of the bank.
Abul Fotouh pointed out that the beneficiaries of the microfinance will not have to go to the bank and wait until the value of these loans are disbursed, nor will granting institutions have to collect the value of instalments through collection representatives, or direct customers to the headquarters of institutions to pay the value of instalments in cash, as those actions will now be done electronically.
For his part, Hazem Moghazi, CEO of Aman for Financial Services, confirmed that this partnership with NBE came as a result of the joint effort with the bank’s team to facilitate the movement of loans to Aman customers.
He added that the company is about to issue about 30,000 Meeza cards next year, in partnership with the NBE, to keep up with the disbursement plan during the year, and cover all segments of the target community, by providing microcredit cards through ATMs across Egypt.
Fady Youssef, head of finance at Aman, said that the partnership with NBE is a qualitative leap for the microfinance sector in general, as the company is the first microfinance company to provide this service to its customers, in light of the initiative of the CBE Financial Regulatory Authority, as well as the spread of a customer base Microfinance, seeking to reach 10m beneficiaries in the coming period.
