Minister of Public Enterprise Sector Hisham Tawfik stressed the importance of technology in achieving financial inclusion in Egypt. At the Financial Inclusion Conference organised by the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) and Misr Insurance Holding Company on Sunday, Tawfik said financial inclusion is one of the elements required to achieve economic development. He noted that financial banking services realised great success and had customers everywhere, but such achievement would be difficult for non-banking financial services, especially in the insurance sector, due of the difficulty in convincing citizens of its importance. Therefore, the insurance sector needs to exert more efforts to raise insurance awareness. On the sidelines of the conference, Tawfik witnessed the launch of a new bank insurance product for customers after retirement, named "Tomorrow Pension." The new insurance product provided jointly by the NBE and Misr Life Insurance. He said the new product would develop the performance of insurance companies affiliated to the ministry, besides modernising and improving insurance services and providing new insurance products. It also sets a framework for cooperation and integration between banking and non-banking financial services to boost financial inclusion. Moreover, Chairperson and Managing Director of Misr Life Insurance Ahmed Abdel Aziz said the new product was a result of a major cooperation agreement between a life insurance company and an Egyptian bank, to provide innovative insurance products and solutions through the NBE branches so as to reach the largest segment of customers. Chairperson of the NBE Hisham Okasha said the new service is one of the most important agreements that were signed in the bank insurance sector. The insurance programme targets clients aged 18-59, and the minimum payment period is five years, whereby the pension is disbursed upon the customer's choice, so that it can be made one time or through a fixed monthly pension for 10 years if the insured reaches the age of eligibility, dies, or suffers disability before reaching the age of eligibility. So far, there are six agreements concluded by Misr Life Insurance with the banking sector. Misr Life Insurance has five contracts with five banks operating in the Egyptian market: SAIB, EG Bank, Misr Iran Bank, Housing and Development Bank, and Nasser Social Bank. Those contracts aim to market life insurance products through those banks' various branches. Bank insurance is a marketing tool for insurance services, by providing insurance services to bank customers, based on mutual trust between the bank and its clients. Insurance coverage is marketed to them in the form of packages and insurance programmes for the education of children and marriage, retirement programmes that provide a monthly pension, and other benefits to the customer upon retirement. During the conference, Okasha revealed that the bank's funding to small and medium enterprises reached EGP 55bn. He stressed that the inclusion of the informal sector in the formal sector will boost the Egyptian economy. The bank pumped EGP 20bn to individuals within just seven months, to increase its portfolio from EGP 72bn to EGP 92bn at the end of January, he added. Abdel Aziz said that the total compensation paid to holders of the Aman Certificate amounted to about EGP 90m for 2,600 families. He added that the certificate holders reached 900,000 individuals since its launch in March 2018 in cooperation with the NBE, Banque Misr, Banque du Caire, and the Agricultural Bank of Egypt. Misr Life Insurance, in cooperation with the four banks, spent EGP 14m on prizes for certificate holders, within the framework of the social responsibility of the company and its partners. Chairperson and Managing Director of Misr Insurance Holding Basel El Hini said the insurance activities' contribution to the GDP is 0.8%. Misr Life Insurance was established in 1900 under the name of Ahlia Insurance Company, before rebranding to Misr Life Insurance after mergers between government companies in 2007. The authorised capital of the company is EGP 3bn and its paid-up capital is EGP 1.5bn. It is one of the subsidiaries of Misr Insurance Holding Company, affiliated to the Ministry of Public Enterprise Sector.
