Last week, the United Bank launched a forum on electronic financial inclusion for its clients through its new website and official pages on social media as part of the events of the financial inclusion week held under the sponsorship of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), according to Ashraf El Kady, chairperson of the bank. El Kady explained that the forum aims to highlight real success stories of the bank's clients across the country, recorded on video, through exhibiting their successful experiences and how they started in various economic fields with the United Bank, starting from opening a bank account, to letters of guarantee, to the most developed packages of banking, financial, and digital services. According to El Kady, the idea of establishing the forum is a new addition to the bank's financial inclusion efforts. He pointed out that these stories have great importance in raising awareness, thanks to their realism and how they are able to get closer to the minds of recipients via video. He added that the forum allows instant interaction with these stories and the customers through direct questions and answer sessions, in addition to some advice and instructions for small and medium enterprise (SME) ideas, whether these ideas are conventional or compliant with the provisions of Shariah law. Within the same context, El Kady noted that convoys of the bank to raise awareness on financial inclusion began in all governorates across the country with the aim of forming a strong knowledge base and spreading financial culture to maximise the number of citizens benefiting from financial inclusion and banking and financial services. The bank also broadcasted several media messages through its social media pages to create awareness amongst consumers on financial culture and to present the experiences of other countries in achieving financial inclusion. Additionally, there was a wide campaign for the bank's staff, at its 53 branches and the main headquarters, to raise awareness on the system of financial inclusion. According to El Kady, the first way to implement financial inclusion is to ensure each citizen has a bank account, whether this citizen has an income from a specific source or has no income at all. He added that this will form a national comprehensive database that determines the address of every citizen, their income source, as well as their spending and consumer behaviour.
