Building confidence with clients and the predominance of cash payments are the main challenges faced by online payment companies that may hinder their growth. In response, online payment companies have turned to face these challenges by linking clients' payments with tools to prevent counterfeiting, and with the sector that provides the service to the client. Experts have emphasised that the online payment sector's growth depends on the growth of the online commerce sector. Ahmed El-Salahy, head of the Relationship Management department at PayFort, said that the online payment sector faces many challenges in the Egyptian market. The most important of these challenges is the dependence of a large segment of society on paying in cash, contrary to other countries that use online payment, which helps their governments collect larger amounts of taxes. He added that credit card users and bank account owners represent only 10% of society, and the government has started to employ online payment in tax payment. He called upon the government to encourage segments of society to open bank accounts and use credit cards in all sectors. El-Salahy explained that the concerns of a large segment of society regarding using online payment methods are a great challenge faced by this sector in Egypt. He emphasised PayFort's role in this challenge, and how they seek to resolving it. The method of payment on PayFort, whether by the commercial user or the sector receiving the service, is linked with tools to prevent counterfeiting in order to build confidence between the client and the merchant or the website. El-Salahy pointed out that a large part of the lack of confidence in online payment goes back to the clients themselves. Clients should not give a complete picture of their credit cards to any merchant and should protect all their information so as not to be exposed to fraud. In terms of competition, he said that the company has roughly 22 competitors in the UAE, compared to the limited number of competitors in Egypt, adding that the Egyptian market is growing step by step. He believes that the market can absorb more e-payment companies because they are in favour of the client and give them the chance to move from one company to another according to their own interests. El-Salahy added that PayFort has many partnerships with the National Bank of Egypt (NBE), which is its official partner, as well as Emirates NBD and Mashreq Bank to offer instalment services online. PayFort also plans to contract with another three banks this year. PayFort will contract with Souq.com and DealGamed to offer instalment services online, as well as some tourism agencies and Fawry. El-Salahy stated that the e-commerce market grows by 40% annually, and it now has approximately four million users. He also said that there has to be trust between the client and the e-commerce companies in terms of offering the best services and original products, as well as issuing some regulations that ensure the users' rights. According to El-Salahy, Internet users through smart phones are constantly increasing, while the purchase power for e-commerce websites through smart phones is estimated at 30% to 40% after the spread of smart phones and tablets. Meanwhile, Chairman of Linatel for Telecommunications Yehia Tharwat said that one of the biggest challenges that face the sector in Egypt is the lack of awareness regarding the importance of the sector and people's preference to pay on delivery. He added that raising awareness on the importance of e-commerce and its growth will lead to the growth of the e-payment sector. Regulations must be issued to maintain the sector and build trust between the company and its clients, Tharwat said.
