Imposing fees on “InstaPay” transactions and bank transfers in 2024.. What are the details?

04:52 PM

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Written by Manal Al-Masry:

The Central Bank intends to apply small fees to transactions through the national network for real-time transfers, “InstaPay,” as well as to return to transfers between banks starting in January 2024, according to a Central Bank official whom Masrawy spoke to.

The official explained that fees on transactions through InstaPay will range from 50 piasters to one pound, depending on the size of the transaction, starting next January, for the first time since the launch of the service in March 2022, with the aim of covering part of the high operating cost.

It is expected that the value of transactions of the “InstaPay” application (the national network for real-time payments) will rise to 800 billion pounds during the current year alone by the end of December 2023, as the number of customers subscribing to the service reached 6.2 million beneficiaries, according to what Engineer Ihab Nasr, Assistant Deputy Governor of the Central Bank for Banking Operations, said. He organized the payment in his speech at the “BAFEX” conference and exhibition yesterday.

Two months ago, the Central Bank included new services on “InstaPay,” including paying and charging mobile phone, Internet, and landline bills. It also intends to include a cash withdrawal service from ATMs via the application soon.

Interbank transfer fees

The official at the Central Bank explained that determining the value of the fees imposed on transfers between customer accounts will be left to the banks according to the policy of each bank, without specifying a maximum limit for the transaction, after their scheduled return in 2024 for the first time in 3 and a half years.

The Central Bank had stopped collecting fees for transfers between accounts between banks from June 2020, as part of its precautionary measures to confront the new Corona virus, and this suspension will expire at the end of next December after it was renewed several times.