INTEGRATING into a cashless society has been an ongoing challenge as banking services over the past decade have been limited to account savings and investment certificates. However, as Sherine El-Madany reports, Egyptians now have access to credit, debit and prepaid cards that allow them to make payments in new more flexible ways in stores, while travelling abroad or shopping over the Internet. "Electronic payments are more cost efficient than cash-based systems," Anne Cobb, president of Visa International for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA), said last week to mark the issuance of one million Visa cards in Egypt. International studies, Cobb added, showed a direct correlation between an increase in electronic payments and positive tangible benefits for national economies. She said the efficiency of an electronic payment system generated cost savings for countries of around one per cent GDP. "In Egypt that would have been a cost savings of LE4.9 billion in the 2003/04 fiscal year." According to Visa International statistics, the one million Egyptian Visa card holders make over 8.5 million transactions a year, worth a total of just under $1 billion annually. The small plastic cards have attracted an additional $564 million in tourism spending, increasing foreign currency earnings in Egypt. The cards, a mix of credit and debit, are used at 24,000 Egyptian merchant outlets and over 1,250 ATMs. Local Egyptian banks are now working jointly with Visa International to further enhance e-payment systems. "Our activities include educating Egyptians about chip technology, launching new and innovative payment tools and programmes and establishing a credit bureau to supervise e-payment transactions," Mohamed Barakat, chairman of Banque Misr and the Egyptian Federation of Banks, said. "The faster and safer money can flow through an economy, the faster it can grow and become a part of the global economy," Tarek El-Husseini, vice president and general manager of Visa International for Egypt, Libya and CEMEA, said.
