issued by the Board of Directors Egyptian Central Bank Some decisions to promote the transformation of a society less dependent on banknotes, within the framework of implementing the strategy of the National Council for Payments headed by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and in continuation of efforts to support digital transformation.
The validity of the issued decisions extends for a year from January 1 to December 31, 2023, and includes exempting customers from all expenses and commissions related to bank transfer services for individuals, which are carried out through electronic channels (internet and mobile banking) in Egyptian pounds.
The decisions also included exempting customers of the national system for real-time payments – which was launched in April 2022 – from all expenses 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 that allows all transfer services. to customers, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The system witnessed a significant increase in the volume of transactions executed through it, to exceed 45 billion pounds for more than 8 million transactions in less than 8 months only through the InstaPay application and the bank’s electronic channels, as the number of service users reached more than 1.2 million. Client.
In the same context, the Board of Directors of the Central Bank decided to cancel all fees for activating electronic collection services via the Internet (E-Commerce) for micro, small and medium companies that wish to activate this service, in order to stimulate companies to expand the use of digital financial services.
The decisions also included the application of a new pricing policy on transfer services through the mobile phone wallet, with exempting all customers from transfer fees for the first transaction per month to transfer from any mobile phone wallet to any other wallet, in addition to setting a maximum limit for the expenses incurred by the customer for other transfer transactions that It takes place between mobile phone wallets belonging to the same service provider, so that their value does not exceed 1 EGP only. As for transfer transactions that take place between any two mobile phone wallets that are not affiliated with the same service provider, the existing pricing has been modified to be a maximum of 15 EGP per transaction.
have witnessed Transfer service Through the mobile phone wallet, its indicators increased in large proportions, as the number of mobile phone wallet accounts reached about 29.5 million accounts by the end of October 2022. A significant increase was also achieved in the values and number of monthly transfers that take place through the mobile phone wallet, which reflects the importance of the service for users. And their dependence on it greatly in their transactions and financial transfers on a monthly basis, and it was not negatively affected by setting the aforementioned pricing policy.
These decisions come as a continuation of the efforts of the Central Bank of Egypt to motivate citizens to use digital financial services, and to benefit from the advantages it offers to perform 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.