E-payment cards surge to 62mln in Egypt as of September 2023: CBE

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Egypt - Ehab Nasr, Assistant Sub Governor, Payment Systems and Business Technology Sector at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), announced that the number of e-payment cards issued by banks operating in the Egyptian market increased to 62 million by the end of September 2023, compared to 52 million cards by the end of December 2022. He said that “Meeza” payment cards accounted for about 55% of the total number of these cards, with 34.5 million cards.

Nasr spoke during the PAFIX Exhibition and Conference on electronic payments and financial inclusion, which took place last week. He said that the number of electronic point-of-sale (POS) machines grew by 62% from 2021 until September 2023, reaching 1.2 million points by the end of September 2023, compared to 740,000 points by the end of 2021.

He also said that the volume of transactions made through electronic POS amounted to about EGP 288.5bn in September 2023, with a growth rate of 71% compared to 2021.

According to Nasr, the number of mobile wallet accounts exceeded 36 million in September 2023, compared to 30 million accounts in 2022, an increase of 23%. He said that the volume of transactions through those wallets amounted to about EGP 853bn, an increase of about 325% compared to 2021.

He added that the number of users of the InstaPay application reached 6.2 million, while the number of transactions carried out through this application reached 350 million, with transaction values exceeding EGP 650bn in 2023 alone, and are expected to surpass EGP 800bn by the end of the year.

According to Nasr, the volume of online e-commerce in Egypt reached EGP 69bn by the end of September 2023, an increase of 169% compared to 2021.

Nasr predicted that the total electronic transactions by the end of this year would exceed EGP 13tn, an increase of 94% compared to 2021.

The Deputy Assistant Governor of CBE revealed that more services will be launched on InstaPay in the near future, including cash withdrawal services through ATMs. He said that the year 2024 will witness the availability of a new type of license for financial technology companies to connect with the payments system in real time.

According to Nasr, CBE is currently working with all local and international partners to complete the card coding project on mobile phones during the first half of next year. It is also working to complete the digital financial identity project, which will allow customers to open accounts electronically without visiting bank branches.