Wrap up of 1st day of Egypt’s FinTech conference

CAIRO – 6 February 2018: As the first day of the Financial Technology (FinTech) conference "Seamless North Africa" comes to and, Egypt Today sums up the most important statements made by officials.

Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Tarek Amer said that more than $100 billion have been pumped into the Egyptian economy since the flotation of the pound in November 2016.

He said that the CBE has been adopting an expansionary approach in terms with its monetary policies. This is done through reducing interest rates and controlling inflation, he said.

Amer further said that conference aims to support entrepreneurs and to expand modern and financial technologies and that Egypt is considering the idea of establishing digital banks.

He said that the CBE and the government are working on developing the infrastructure of financial technology to attract and support creative ideas, besides financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs).



Hisham Okasha, Chairman of the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) said, during the conference, that the bank has provided $20 billion in funds to finance foreign trade since flotation.

He added, that his bank has 5.2 million smart wallets customers and that the bank will issue pre-paid cards to students in 18 universities.

Egypt’s first financial technology conference will run from 6-7 February 2018. The conference is held under the auspices of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and is driven by the country’s quest for the latest global FinTech innovation and development, with a view to transforming to a digital economy, and consequently fostering the concept of financial inclusion, according to a CBE statement.

The two-day conference is being organized by the CBE, the Council of Arab Economic Unity, the League of Arab States, and the Arab Federation of e-Commerce.

It hosts over 500 participants internationally and locally, 50 global experts in FinTech, in addition to a diversified and large array of companies that will exhibit the latest innovations in FinTech industry from across the globe ready to be launched in the Egyptian market.

The conference aims to bring together different players, such as financial institutions, startups, venture capital, accelerators and incubators, with a view to establishing an integrated FinTech- ecosystem, the statement said.

FinTech is a new financial industry that applies technology to improve financial activities; it is the new applications, processes, products, or business models in the financial service industry.

According to scientific papers, FinTech products and services are faster, more efficient and cost-effective, and enabling a larger number of individuals to access and benefit from financial services.

Examples of Financial Technology are the use of smart phones for mobile banking, investing services and cryptocurrency.