ArabFinance: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) approved issuing licenses allowing mobile contactless payments, the banks statement said.

Accordingly, merchants will be able to accept contactless payments through their mobile devices.

The central bank has in mind technologies that allow consumers to use their cards to contactlessly pay retailers via the sellers phones and other smart devices, which would be used as electronic point-of-sale (POS) machines.

The bank did not disclose when it would begin issuing licenses or which businesses would be eligible to apply.

However, the move was designed to support the states drive to digitalize the economy and bring more SMEs into the formal economy. The decision also comes as part of the National Payments Councils strategy to reduce reliance on banknotes.

In 2021, the bank raised withdrawal and transfer limits for mobile wallets, opened up savings and loan services to mobile wallet users, and introduced new interoperability rules making it easier for users to withdraw, deposit and transfer EGP between different services providers.

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