Financial inclusion week to start Thursday: CBE official

CAIRO – 26 April 2017: Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Gamal Negm gave his instructions to local banks to begin the activities of the financial inclusion week Thursday, a CBE official told Egypt Today Monday.

”Financial inclusion means each individual or institution can have financial products suitable for their needs. Financial products include saving, current accounts, financing, credit, and other products and financial services,’’ the official said. Such products must be offered through legal channels such as banks, Egypt Post and civil organisations, the official stated. In addition, their prices must be attainable and they have to be obtainable by all consumers.

The source noted that the CBE aims to allow all segments of society to have suitable opportunities to manage their finances and safely save in order to guarantee that citizens will not resort to unofficial means which are not subject to any form of supervision and may expose citizens to fraud or excess fees.

“Financial inclusion is a main reason for both financial independence and economic growth,” the official said. “In addition, economic conditions will not improve as long as a large number of individuals and institutions are financially out of the official financial sector.”

He added that financial inclusion guarantees the development of financial institutions to offer cheaper financial products that take into consideration the best interest of consumers. Financial inclusion, as recounted by the source, is concerned with many segments of society, especially marginalised ones or those who do not find products to suit their needs, such as the poor and those with limited income as well as the owners of small and medium enterprises , women, children and youth.

The CBE also stressed on the importance of paying the utmost attention to enhancing financial awareness and knowledge among owners and managers of SMEs, as well as taking into account the lack of experience of new consumers regarding the usage of financial services in order to help them understand their rights and responsibilities, the source added.

The source explained that activities of financial inclusion incentivize banks to go outside their headquarters and move to remote areas, clubs and universities, presenting banking products that suit these segments of customers. The CBE official said banks must notify the management of the banking affairs section in the CBE sector of supervision about the places in which they will be present.

Under the slogan “an account for every citizen,” customers also should be able to open accounts without expenses or a minimum limit, he added.