The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has raised the limit for electronic payments via mobile phones to EGP 30,000 per day and EGP 100,000 per month for individuals, and EGP 40,000 per day and EGP 200,000 per week for corporations. The CBE's new decisions are part of a broader set of measures adopted to face the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak. The CBE sent directives to banks on Saturday instructing them to make available to their clients online accounts that are accessible through mobile phones using clients' already registered data. The CBE also increased the number of electronic cash units for every bank to EGP 500,000, allowing account transactions from within the same bank or from one bank to another. It also instructed banks to issue electronic portfolios for six months. The CBE also instructed banks to issue free pre-paid banking cards for citizens for six months and to raise their limits from EGP 300 to EGP 600 without the need to enter a password. Inter-bank services will follow the current rules, giving banks the right to register their clients in this service after confirming their identities. The new procedures have exempted payment outlets from all fees and commissions on operations that are carried out through banking cards or mobile phone portfolios. For ATM operations, the card issuer will bear all fees on cash withdrawals over the fee cancellation period.
