Visa and Egyptian Banks Company collaborate to facilitate international remittances. Reports coming in at this moment show that Visa has entered a partnership with the Egyptian Banks Company (EBC) to help ease and also improve the process of international remittances for Egyptians in the diaspora.
Visa and Egyptian Banks Company Collaborates
This very news and development is following the announcement of collaboration by the EBC with MasterCard on February 7, 2024, which is aimed at improving the digital payments ecosystem of Egypt and also fostering inclusive economic growth. This move as you should know will enable the technological infrastructure of the EBC as well as the digital financial services of Visa to be combined to offer users cutting-edge digital wallet and electronic payment solutions.
This partnership aligns with the strategies of the Egyptian government and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to encourage and facilitate remittances from Egyptians working abroad.
The Egyptian Banks Company
The Egyptian Banks Company (EBC) serves as the technological arm of the CBE, overseeing and advancing various domestic payment ecosystems in Egypt, including the Instant Payments Network (IPN) and the InstaPay application.
In line with these efforts, the CBE has implemented measures to regulate credit card usage by Egyptians residing abroad. As part of these measures, customers failing to provide documented evidence of credit card usage during their time abroad within 90 days will face repercussions, including potential suspension of their credit cards and inclusion on a platform managed by the Egyptian Credit Bureau.
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Between the Egyptian Banks Company and the CBE
Under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Egyptian Banks Company and the CBE, the initial project focuses on integrating a service into the InstaPay application. This service enables customers to initiate fund transfers from Visa-linked accounts located outside Egypt into registered customers’ accounts or other customers’ accounts through the Instant Payments Network (IPN).
The IPN serves as an instant payment network facilitating direct access to all accounts and real-time fund transfers. Customers can utilize this service to transfer funds to bank accounts using various identifiers such as account numbers, mobile numbers, and digital wallets.
The Second Project Between Both Entities
The second project entails collaborations with banks and financial institutions to streamline transfers to recipients in Egypt using the IPN’s phone number or username directory. Leila Serhan, Visa’s Senior Vice President for North Africa, the Levant, and Pakistan underscored the significance of remittances from Egyptian expatriates, emphasizing their substantial contribution to national income and foreign currency inflows.
Despite a decline in remittances to $12 billion from $15.6 billion during the first half of the fiscal year 2022/2023, according to the World Bank, Egypt remains one of the largest recipients of remittances globally, ranking fifth overall.
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