Egypt launches 1st digital map for microfinance

CAIRO – 1 August 2017: The Egyptian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA) disclosed the first digital map for microfinance that shows the licensed bodies that practice microfinance, chairman Sherif Samy said Tuesday.

The map includes licensed companies, communities and civil organization, along with their activities in different governorates. It also lists the branches of the macro-financial bodies, their addresses, the number of clients and the value of finance in each governorate.

Egypt has advanced two places and 10 degrees in overall ranking and score of the financial inclusion scale since 2014. Moreover, Egypt was ranked among three countries from all over the world as “Movers and Shakers,” according to the 2016 Global Microscope report.

Samy praised the global initiative for the financial inclusion launched by the World Bank, with the cooperation of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which will focus on three model countries, including Egypt.

EFSA chairman stressed the authority’s concern to achieve financial inclusion through introducing products and services targeting low income and other of the financially marginalized categories, which are not included as beneficiaries of banks, insurance or finance bodies.

The three-year initiative, which includes Egypt, China and Mexico, will work on developing the electronic payment systems to spread the financial services, Samy noted.

Samy added that efforts have started in the fields of non-banking microfinance by issuing microfinance laws, followed by introducing micro-insurance form, launching a system for the electronic issuance and distribution of insurance policies and drafting a new law for financial leasing and factoring, including introducing micro-financial leasing.

The supervisory authority is cooperating with the Central Bank of Egypt in achieving the financial inclusion and will also participate in the National Council for Payments.