Visa partners with Egyptian Bank and Post Office for financial inclusion
Egypt
,
01 Sep 2017
Visa partners with Egyptian Bank and Post Office for financial inclusion
Global payments technology company Visa has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Egyptian National Post Organisation (ENPO) and Banque Misr aimed at popularising and regulating digital financial services in the country.
The new agreement, which includes the provision of Banque Misr ATM machines at post offices, was overseen by Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) Yasser ElKady.
Essam El-Sageir, Chairman of ENPO said, "The agreement will enable ENPO to provide financial inclusion services to traders and integrate them into the formal economy through its partnership with Banque Misr."
The MoU also establishes cooperation between Banque Misr and ENPO for the expansion of e-payments for use by traders across all of Egypt's governorates.
Visa will provide expertise for the required technology and services.
Tarek Mahfouz, CEO of Visa in Egypt says the local market is a top priority for the company's financial inclusion projects.
"We appreciate MCIT for its efforts to provide the adequate digital infrastructure, which is one of the cornerstones for promoting the dissemination of financial inclusion concept," said Mahfouz.
He also indicated that Visa is committed to supporting the World Bank's Financial Inclusion Global Initiative, announced nearly a month ago for implementation until 2020 in Egypt as well as China and Mexico.
The World Bank will be leading operational work in the initiative, although it has partnered with the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) who will be managing activities related to telecommunications.
During the launch of the initiative, The World Bank Group said according to its analysis of the Egyptian market, the North African country has the potential to bring more than 44 million people into the formal financial sector as it has adequate laws, regulations and financial and ICT infrastructure - despite the lack of funding to cover financial inclusion related reforms.