Egypt's central bank approves banks participation in multi-currency instant settlement system

CAIRO – 9 March 2021: The Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Egypt, approves the participation of banks operating in Egypt, in the multi-currency instant settlement system.

This allows the execution and settlement of mutual payment orders between Egyptian banks within the Arab Republic of Egypt in foreign currencies in real time, as of Monday, March 22, 2021.

Deputy Governor Rami Abul-Naga said in a statement issued that the launch of the multi-currency instant settlement system; It would achieve many advantages for the banking sector, the most important of which is reducing the cost of payment orders in foreign currency exchanged between Egyptian banks and reducing the time required to implement and settle this type of payment order, in accordance with all international standards for payment systems.

He added that it supports technical integration with the modern systems in force in the Egyptian banking sector provided by the Central Bank of Egypt.

This comes within the framework of implementing the strategy of the National Payments Council headed by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and supporting the development of Egyptian banking systems in line with international standards and recommendations.

First Deputy Governor for the Banking Operations and Payment Systems Sector, Amany Shams El Din, stated that the multi-currency instant settlement system enhances the level of supervision of the Central Bank of Egypt, in addition to supporting plans for technical integration between other modern systems provided by the Central Bank of Egypt.

“Such as the system of central deposit and settlement of government securities in foreign currency and the system of collateral management, and the cost reduction through the new system encourages banks to consider reducing the bank tariff for transfers in local currencies that are executed within the Arab Republic of Egypt,” she clarified.

Assistant Governor for Payment Systems and Services, Ehab Nasr added that the instant settlement system is the most important system in the national payment system, through which financial operations exceeding LE 70 trillion were executed during 2020, and that the system was developed to work in a multi-currency format to include the implementation of mutual transactions, among Egyptian banks in foreign currency; It will facilitate the transfer of foreign currencies between banks operating in Egypt in a more effective manner than the traditional used channels.