issued by the Board of Directors Central Bank of Egypt Some decisions to favor the transformation of a society less dependent on banknotes, as part of the implementation of the strategy of the National Payments Council chaired by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and in the continuation of efforts to support the digital transformation.
The validity of the resolutions issued extends for one year from 1 January to 31 December 2023, and provides for the exemption of customers from all expenses and commissions relating to bank transfer services for individuals, which are carried out via telematic channels (internet and mobile banking) into Egyptian Pounds.
The decisions also provided for the exemption of customers of the national system for real-time payments – which was launched in April 2022 – from all fees and commissions related to real-time transfer services, as the system is one of the most important infrastructure projects for payment systems sponsored by the Central Bank of Egypt to be an integrated alternative to cash payments enabling all transfer services to customers, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The system has seen a significant increase in the volume of transactions made through it, up to over 45 billion pounds for more than 8 million transactions in less than 8 months only through the InstaPay application and the bank’s telematic channels, since the number of service users reached more than 1.2 million Customers.
In the same context, the Board of Directors of the Central Bank has decided to cancel all fees for the activation of electronic collection services via the Internet (E-Commerce) for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises that intend to activate this service, in order to stimulate enterprises expand the use of digital financial services.
The decisions also included the implementation of a new pricing policy on switching services through the mobile wallet, exempting all customers from transfer fees for the first transaction per month for switching from any mobile wallet mobile to any other wallet, as well as setting an upper limit on the charges incurred by the customer for other transfer transactions that take place between mobile wallets belonging to the same service provider, so that their value does not exceed only 1 EGP. phone wallets that are not affiliated with the same service provider, the existing price has been changed to a maximum of 15 EGP per transaction.
they witnessed Transfer service Across the mobile phone wallet, its indicators have increased in a large proportion, as the number of mobile phone wallet accounts has reached about 29.5 million accounts by the end of October 2022. A significant increase in the values and the number of monthly transfers that occur through the mobile wallet, which reflects the importance of the service to users and their heavy reliance on it in their financial transactions and transfers on a monthly basis, and has not been adversely affected by the setting of the aforementioned pricing policy.
These decisions come as a continuation of the Central Bank of Egypt’s efforts to motivate citizens to use digital financial services and benefit from the advantages it offers to execute financial services quickly, from anywhere and at any time, which contributes to the transformation of a society less dependent on banknotes and the promotion of financial inclusion.
