Mohamed Amer, Acting Assistant Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) for Banking Operations and Payment Systems, announced that the Bank's digital transformation efforts—driven by advanced technological solutions and artificial intelligence—have raised individual financial inclusion rates to 76.3% in June 2025, up from 27.4% in 2016, reflecting growth exceeding 214%. He added that financing portfolios directed to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) recorded a 395% increase during the same period. These achievements, he noted, position Egypt at the forefront of global shifts in digital finance and help ensure equal access for citizens and investors to secure, modern financial services. Amer highlighted that recent years have seen major breakthroughs in digital transformation across the banking sector, fuelled by initiatives and projects implemented by the Central Bank. Chief among them are online and mobile banking services, which proved vital during the COVID-19 pandemic by enabling easy access to banking channels. These services now count around 18 million subscribers, with 114 million transactions worth EGP 11.7trn completed in 2024. He also pointed to the success of the national "Meeza" card system, which provides citizens with a secure Egyptian payment tool, with more than 43.5 million cards issued in June 2025. He added that the rollout of the Instant Payments Network and the InstaPay application represented a significant leap in the speed and efficiency of financial transfers. As of June 2025, the number of InstaPay users exceeded 16 million, conducting more than 1.1 billion transactions worth EGP 2.4trn. Meanwhile, "Meeza Digital" mobile wallets helped raise the total number of e-wallets to 55.5 million, through which 1.4bn transactions worth over EGP 1.8trn were carried out by June 2025. Amer also referred to the launch of the national card-tokenisation platform, which enabled the activation of contactless mobile payments, including Apple Pay, launched in December 2024. By June 2025, more than 40 million transactions worth over EGP 32 billion had been made using Apple Pay. Work is now underway to enable tokenisation services on Android devices, further expanding usage across the Egyptian market. Speaking on behalf of Hassan Abdalla, Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, at the opening of the 12th International Exhibition and Conference for Digital Payments, Financial Inclusion and Digital Banking (PAFIX), Amer stated that the event comes at a time of unprecedented global transformation in the financial and banking sectors. These shifts are driven by innovative fintech solutions and artificial intelligence applications that are redefining financial operations and the infrastructure of the global economy. Digital transformation, he stressed, has evolved from a technological upgrade into a strategic imperative for achieving growth, efficiency, transparency, and wider financial inclusion. At the centre of this transformation, Amer said, the Central Bank is advancing a comprehensive digital transformation strategy, upgrading national payment systems, and adopting innovative fintech technologies. These efforts enhance the efficiency of Egypt's digital financial infrastructure, support financial inclusion goals, and accelerate the country's transition toward a less cash-dependent economy prepared for the future of the digital age. Amer added that the Bank has made significant progress in implementing the electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) project—a core component of establishing a national digital financial identity that will enable banks to deliver services electronically with greater ease and security, opening new pathways for citizens to access financial services without visiting branches. He underlined that the Central Bank recognised early on that fintech is the main driver of change in the banking sector and that artificial intelligence will be the "secret ingredient" shaping the future of financial services. In this context, the CBE launched its FinTech and Innovation Strategy in 2019, designed to foster innovation while maintaining financial stability and safeguarding customer rights. The Bank is also promoting the responsible and secure use of artificial intelligence by establishing frameworks and standards to guide its safe integration. Extending this approach, the CBE—jointly with I-Score—developed a behavioural credit-scoring model that uses alternative data and AI-driven machine-learning techniques. This innovation aims to create more flexible, customer-centric credit-classification tools, expanding access to finance and supporting deeper financial inclusion in the Egyptian market. Aligned with this vision, the Bank continues to deploy technology to enhance the supervisory framework for the banking sector. It is developing advanced SupTech systems that use modern data-analytics tools to enable real-time monitoring of banking operations and support evidence-based decision-making, thereby reinforcing the stability and integrity of the financial system. Amer stressed that human capital remains the cornerstone of the sector's future. Accordingly, the Central Bank has prioritised the development of its workforce and that of the wider banking sector. It has launched several initiatives to train and qualify banking professionals and cultivate a new generation capable of keeping pace with rapid technological advancements. These include the FinYology programme, which encourages university students to develop innovative fintech concepts. More than 30 universities have participated, producing over 900 projects involving 19,000 students and supported by 18 Egyptian banks—underscoring the CBE's commitment to nurturing young fintech talent and bridging the gap between academic education and market needs. Another flagship initiative is the Digital Academy, Egypt's first specialised digital training academy for banking and financial sector professionals. Additionally, the Bank has launched the Bachelor's Degree in Banking Sciences, the first of its kind to be introduced across several faculties of commerce beginning in the 2025/2026 academic year, providing an applied educational track that integrates academic learning with practical training. In parallel, the Central Bank continues to support the entrepreneurship ecosystem. It established the regulatory sandbox for innovative fintech applications, allowing entrepreneurs to safely test new solutions under regulatory supervision. The Bank also backed the creation of the Nclude Fund to invest in promising fintech startups, complemented by the Rowad Al-Nil initiative, which provides technical and advisory support in digital transformation for entrepreneurs, startups, and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises nationwide.
