The Central Bank of Egypt, the Egyptian Banks Company (EBC), and MasterCard are collaborating to implement the rules governing payment card coding services recently issued by CBE.
MasterCard’s continuous efforts are in line with the Egyptian government’s vision and strategic goals to enhance access to electronic payments, and benefit from the innovations and efficiency of technology in advancing financial inclusion and achieving sustainable economic growth.
CBE is leading a strategy to develop digital payments in the country by adopting rules governing coding services and establishing an infrastructure to provide safe, convenient and smooth digital payments. Coding technology also aims to attract global institutions and achieve unprecedented innovations in the digital payments market in Egypt.
The tokenization technology replaces private customer data such as the payment card account number with a token, which is used to securely complete transactions through point-of-sale, in-app or online purchases, without the need to use physical payment cards.
Amani Shams El Din, Senior Deputy Governor of CBE for Banking Operations and Payment Systems Sector, said: “The Central Bank of Egypt issued the new rules for coding electronic payment cards with the aim of encouraging innovation in the field of electronic payments, supporting the transformation of a society less dependent on banknotes, and attracting international companies to join the market, thus strengthening Egypt’s position as an innovation center for new payment services in the Middle East and Africa.”
Ehab Nasr, Assistant Deputy Governor of CBE for the banking operations and payment systems sector, said: “We strive to provide coding services to all banks issuing electronic payment cards in Egypt, in cooperation with digital payment services operators, with the aim of paving the way for the development of innovative digital payments inside Egypt, and encouraging customers to expand the adoption of electronic payment methods easily and safely.
Khaled El Gebaly, Regional Head of MasterCard in the Middle East and North Africa, said: “The efforts of CBE continue to support our commitment to accelerating the process of cashless transformation in the country and building a more inclusive and sustainable digital economy. The launch of card tokenization technology marks the beginning of a new era in digital payments within Egypt.”
For his part, Adam Jones, General Manager, Middle East and North Africa at MasterCard expressed his excitement about supporting the efforts of CBE. “We are happy to support the efforts of CBE in developing the digital payments industry by providing tokenization technology, and allowing transactions to be made with convenient, secure and simple payment solutions.” He added,” he added.
Tarek Raouf, CEO and Managing Director of the Egyptian Banks Company (EBC), said that introducing payment card coding technology is an important step towards achieving CBE’s strategy to develop digital payments and innovate new payment services.
“Our mission, as a national operator of payment systems infrastructure, is to support the transformation of electronic payment methods by cooperating with developers of payment technologies and enabling innovation to introduce the latest safe and easy payment technologies. Coding technology represents a qualitative development of the payment infrastructure, which has become one of the most important components of the economy and attracts global investments.”
“The availability of coding technology in the Egyptian market in cooperation with our payment services developers represents a new stage in the development of card payments, which comes within the framework of CBE’s vision to promote innovation and continuous development in the electronic payments industry in Egypt, and supporting the payment infrastructure with coding technology and providing it through all banks, which in turn will contribute to encouraging the transformation of digital payments,” said Ahmed Rabie, Executive Director of EBC.
