Mobile/e-wallets in Egypt have been increasing in popularity, accelerated by several initiatives from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), with the number of mobile wallets climbing to 39.4 million in 2023
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Mobile/e-wallets in Egypt have been increasing in popularity, accelerated by several initiatives from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), with the number of mobile wallets climbing to 39.4 million in 2023, according to a new report.
Egypt’s number of mobile wallet accounts surged to 36.7 million at the end of September 2023, with 96.2 million transactions valued at EGP 11.64 billion, the CBE explained in its economic review of FY2023/2024.
Around 760k “QR codes” or Request to Pay “R2P” were made through mobile wallets by the end of September last year – whether via applications, websites, or merchants.
The report also reviewed the CBE’s progress in integrating contactless payments via smartphones.
The CBE is currently finalizing the technical infrastructure needed to enable “tap on phone” payment systems, highlighting its board of directors’ approval of new regulations to introduce tokenization services and allow contactless payments through smartphones.
The report noted that the technical links between banks and international card schemes (ICS) are currently being built. In 2021, the central bank opened up registration for companies to apply for licenses to enable mobile contactless payments.
Tokenization is a process of substituting the consumers’ card and personal information with a unique randomly generated code (which is the “token”), providing users with a more secure way to shop.
Various applications are currently available internationally using this system, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.
These providers are required to obtain a license from the CBE to become authorized to provide Original Equipment Manufacturers and Host Card Emulation Wallets through their applications (using the cards issued by banks regulated in Egypt).
The CBE is the main authorized body/service provider of the Unified Issuer TSP Interface connecting banks and approved networks.
In its report, the CBE added that it has expanded the network of electronic point of sales (POS) devices via initiatives and measures to motivate banks to deploy additional devices. Around 300k electronic POSs have been rolled out, bringing the total number of POSs in Egypt to 1,091,000.
