Egypt has taken its next leap forward in enhancing access to finance for both banked and unbanked consumers in Egypt. It has been able to achieve this following a partnership between Network International, the digital commerce enabler across the Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Souhoola, the fintech solutions provider, in turn enabling merchants to offer buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) payments at networkpay point of sale terminals. 

Network International launched networkpay, it’s direct-to-merchant service in Egypt last year to offer various channels of acceptance including face-to-face payments, digital payments and online payment. It serves 2,500 merchants in the region. Meanwhile, Souhoola has over 130,000 users and a network of more than 1,600 merchant partners.

Ahmed Samir, regional managing director for merchant services – Egypt, Network International said: “By partnering with Souhoola, we’re facilitating seamless digital payments. Furthermore, we are also accelerating financial inclusion. This partnership aims to empower merchants and consumers alike and stimulate a more accessible and convenient payment ecosystem in Egypt.”

Using Souhoola’s BNPL option on networkpay POS devices, customers can conveniently split their payments into highly flexible instalments of up to 60 months. In doing so, they can purchase electronics, furniture, automobiles, and even pay school fees.

Incentivised by increased consumption, the BNPL payment industry has recorded noteworthy progress over the last 12 months in Egypt. BNPL payment adoption is expected to grow steadily. It reecorded a CAGR of 29 per cent during 2023-2028, according to a report by Research and Markets. Additionally, BNPL Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) is expected to reach USD from $1.1billion in 2022 to $6.1billion by 2028.

This partnership between Network International and Souhoola aims to spearhead this growth. In turn, it will advance financial inclusion and transform the digital payments landscape in Egypt.

Ahmed El- Shanawany, managing director, Souhoola, said: “Together, we are committed to driving innovation in payment solutions. We want to enhance financial accessibility for consumers.”

Paymob, a provider of financial services in the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan (MENAP), has teamed up with MID Takseet, a consumer finance company, to enhance access to consumer finance solutions in Egypt.

Since its founding in Egypt 2015, Paymob’s gateway has offered the largest and most comprehensive number of payment acceptance methods in North Africa, positioning it as a trusted growth partner to businesses of all sizes.

The strategic partnership extends MID Takseet’s flexible payment plans and financing services to Paymob’s vast network of over 250,000 merchants and their customers in Egypt.

In the initial phase, Paymob will integrate MID Takseet into its point of sale (POS) terminals to facilitate in-store card and digital wallet transactions, with online integration slated for the second phase.

“MID Takseet is committed to incorporating cutting-edge technology and payment solutions to enhance our clients’ capabilities,” said Mahmoud El-Ghawas, CEO of MID Takseet. “In partnership with Paymob, a leading payment enabler, we aim to deliver exceptional services, prioritising customer satisfaction at the forefront.

“This collaboration facilitates a seamless purchasing and payment experience through an expansive network of merchants, allowing us to integrate Paymob-affiliated merchants into our network.”

While Gillan Shaaban, CCO of Paymob stated: “We are thrilled to partner with MID Takseet to provide their cutting-edge consumer finance solutions to our merchants. Data shows that when merchants offer their customers a variety of flexible payment options, sales conversions increase by 18 per cent and the basket size increases by 33 per cent, resulting in business growth.

“Our partnership with MID Takseet is another step in Paymob’s mission to enable businesses to compete in the digital economy and contribute to sustainable, inclusive economies.”

MID Takseet offers advanced non-banking financial solutions, fostering growth for businesses and customers. With its programmes, it enhances financial inclusion and aligns with digital trends, establishing itself as a leader in consumer finance. Through its mobile app, MID Takseet also provides installment services for various products, boosting financial flexibility and convenience for users.

Egyptian Banks Company (EBC) has strategically partnered with Visa to leverage its digital financial services and expertise, as well as the advanced technological infrastructure managed by EBC, to introduce a range of new solutions including electronic payment services and digital wallets.

EBC and Visa have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that establishes a comprehensive framework for collaboration, as both organisations initially focus on two key projects to facilitate remittances for citizens of Egypt living abroad.

The first project proposes the introduction of an additional service to the InstaPay application, enabling customers to initiate transfers from Visa-linked accounts outside Egypt, with funds seamlessly deposited into registered customers’ accounts or transferred to other customers via the Instant Payments Network (IPN).

The second project involves partnering with banks and financial institutions to facilitate transfers to beneficiaries in Egypt using IPN’s phone number or username directory.

Leila Serhan, senior vice president for North Africa, Levant, and Pakistan (NALP) at Visa, said: “Remittances from Egyptian expatriates play a pivotal role in the national income and foreign currency inflow, providing vital support to countless families in Egypt and abroad. Egypt’s large diaspora, spanning numerous countries, underscores its position as the fifth largest recipient of remittances globally. The export of Egyptian talent and expertise abroad not only generates foreign currency but also supports the domestic economy.

“The MoU between Visa and EBC, under the auspices of the CBE, is instrumental in leveraging Visa’s global network strength, unlocking the full potential of the Egyptian payment ecosystem, and working closely with EBC to map a path towards financial inclusion through the digitisation of payments in Egypt. This collaboration will enable the Egyptian market to benefit from Visa’s global payment strategy, share market insights, and access cutting-edge technological innovations.”

Supporting financial inclusion in Egypt

Tarek Raouf, executive chairman and CEO of EBC, commented: “The Instant Payments Network (IPN), supported by the InstaPay application, has brought about a tremendous increase in financial inclusion rates since its launch in March 2022. The application has empowered customers within Egypt to securely make instant transfers among bank accounts, cards, and mobile wallets.

“I am highly optimistic about the collaboration between Visa and EBC to drive innovation in cross-border digital payments, aiming to expand the user base of the InstaPay application beyond Egypt by utilizing Visa’s global presence. Both entities will work together to provide innovative digital solutions to global users of the application, ultimately increasing financial inflows into Egypt and stimulating long-term economic growth”, he added.

This partnership aims to enhance the user experience and expand the array of services offered by leveraging the strong presence of Visa’s global network while relying on the unique instant transfer experience provided by EBC through the InstaPay application.

Mastercard collaboration

The news comes shortly after Egyptian Banks Company furthered its collaboration with payments giant Mastercard, in an effort to enhance the digital payments landscape and drive inclusive economic development in Egypt.

Khalid Elgibali, division president, MENA at Mastercard, commented: “Over the past two decades, Mastercard has been actively involved in introducing cutting-edge digital payment solutions into the Egyptian landscape, steadfastly aligning with the government’s vision for a financially and digitally inclusive future.

“This collaboration is set to play a pivotal role in shaping the digital payments landscape, fostering financial inclusion, and contributing to sustainable economic growth in Egypt.”

Commercial International Bank (CIB) Egypt has selected IBM artificial intelligence (AI) technology to integrate existing and new services from branches, digital channels, mobile and internet banking, IVR, business processes and CRM.

In an effort to revolutionise CIB Egypt digital banking, IBM implemented microservices using IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, deployed on Red Hat OpenShift, a platform that provides a single, unified experience that connects applications and data.

The news of the integration comes as part of the bank’s digital transformation journey, as it looks to modernise its IT infrastructure.

CIB explained that the implementation of this architecture resulted in unprecedented simplicity in version maintenance, dynamic scaling, service governance and service discovery. These advancements are enabling CIB to offer a more agile banking environment, which has increased efficiency, enriched resiliency, streamlined operations, and improved productivity, ultimately benefiting the end-user experience.

Antar Kandil, chief information officer for CIB, discussed the importance of the integration: “We are starting a new chapter in our banking evolution by adopting IBM Cloud Pak for Integration on Red Hat OpenShift which provides us the ability to accelerate development and flexibly integrate new and existing services all in a single integrated offering and providing enhanced customers experience to CIB customers.”

Marwa Abbas, general manager at IBM Egypt, also added: “More than 100 project team members from CIB, IBM Customer Success and IBM Technology Expert Labs worked together to drive and complete this modernisation journey.

“This project is a significant milestone in our long-standing relationship with CIB, as we assist CIB in adapting AI for business with a human-centred and principled approach. IBM brings deep technology, industry and domain expertise to help CIB apply AI to deliver meaningful business outcomes beyond improved productivity and efficiencies to better experiences and new business models.”

Since bottoming around $16,800, Bitcoin (BTC) has displayed resilience throughout 2023, posting over 153% gains year-to-date and $143% over the last 12 months to outperform major tech companies.

Despite this impressive performance, the flagship cryptocurrency’s price is still 39% below the all-time high (ATH) level reached in November 2021.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin continues to hit new ATHs in Argentina, Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, Lebanon and Pakistan.

This is what #Bitcoin looks like for the citizens of Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, Argentina, Lebanon and Pakistan.
A combined population of
725 MILLION people
Try to convince them Bitcoin is not useful. Good luck pic.twitter.com/z8poh2C7Wb

— Tahini’s (@TheRealTahinis) December 13, 2023

According to the Dec. 13 post, at one point on Dec. 12, a single Bitcoin has reached ATHs against the Argentine peso at 15,176,100.12 ARS. BTC was worth 1,202,109.40 Turkish liras (TRY), 32,703,517.06 Nigerian nairas (NGN), and 1,280,955.47 Egyptian pounds (EGP).

The chart also showed that BTC has reached ATHs against the Lebanese pound and the Pakistani Rupee at 622,548,74.67 LBP and 11,736,063.26 PKR respectively.

It is worth mentioning that these figures are equivalent to the current price of Bitcoin.

It is worth noting that the meteoric rise of Bitcoin in these countries is due to high inflationary pressures, resulting in the devaluation of their respective currencies.

Data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ranks countries’ annual percentage change in inflation rates and end-of-period consumer prices.

According to the chart above, the Zimbabwean dollar currently has the highest annual inflation rate at 396%, followed by the Venezuelan bolivar (250%), Sudanese pound (238%) and the Argentine peso (135%).

The Turkish lira and Nigerian naira came in fifth and 12th with annual inflation rates of 64% and 30%, respectively, IMF’s data shows.

For most crypto investors in these countries, Bitcoin has become a reliable store of value and a hedge against rocketing inflation.

Many of these countries including Nigeria and Argentina have been readily adopting cryptocurrencies despite the steady devaluation of their currency.

Nigeria, Turkey and Argentina boast the second, 12th and 15th highest rates of cryptocurrency adoption worldwide, according to a Sept. 12 report by Chainalysis.

Argentina’s Bitcoin adoption is likely to get a boost following the outcome of the Nov. 19 presidential election run-off which saw pro-Bitcoin candidate Javier Milei emerge the winner.

#Bitcoin is hope for Argentina. Congratulations @JMilei.

— Michael Saylor (@saylor) November 20, 2023

After assuming office on Dec. 10, Milei appointed Luis Caputo as economy minister who announced on Dec. 12 that Argentina was devaluing the peso over 50% to 800 per dollar in an “emergency package” aimed at balancing the budget by 2024. This move appears to have been endorsed by the IMF.

NEW: Javier Milei’s economy minister announces a drastic “emergency package” to balance the budget by 2024

Measures include: layoffs for new public employees, cutting government positions by 34%, and cancelation of all public infrastructure

So far the IMF approves pic.twitter.com/MHlIZ79Bz8

— Bitcoin News (@BitcoinNewsCom) December 13, 2023

The IMF called the measures “bold” adding that they would “significantly improve public finances in a way that protects the most vulnerable in the society and strengthen the exchange rate regime”.

While on the campaign trail, Milei said he would abolish Argentina’s central bank if he took over as president.

Related: Bitcoin derivatives data points to traders’ $50K BTC price target

Bitcoin outperforms tech companies

During the extended 2022 bear market, Bitcoin fell relentlessly in tandem with tech stocks. According to a review letter by Pantera Capital – an American crypto hedge fund – Bitcoin has outperformed all of them except for Meta, which has recorded more than 172% gains YTD against BTC’s 162%.

The price of bitcoin was down in line with tech companies last year. This year it has massively out-performed most.

That’s the 14-year story of #bitcoin – higher lows and higher highs each cycle.

Our year-in-review letter: https://t.co/fy9wy78dVG

I’ll summarize below:

The… pic.twitter.com/cgvOdHZcBk

— Dan Morehead (@dan_pantera) December 12, 2023

Bitcoin bounced back in 2023 due to a “vast majority of significant events” which were “good news” with the “blockchain industry making meaningful, necessary progress”, according to Pantera.

The crypto hedge firm lists a number of these events including increased institutional adoption courtesy of “spot Bitcoin ETFs sponsored by large names in traditional finance – like BlackRock and Fidelity – and the leader in blockchain ETFs, Bitwise.” The potential approval of Bitcoin ETFs opens a new channel for traditional capital to be injected into Bitcoin as “digital gold”.

The letter also notes that the ability of the market to rely on the U.S. court system to be fair has been “reassuring” citing the ruling by Judge Analisa Torres that XRP is not a security and Grayscale’s win in their lawsuit against the SEC regarding their BTC application. These point to a favorable regulatory landscape for crypto in the U.S., enabling further innovation to occur onshore, the report noted.

In addition to these, the upcoming Bitcoin halving event in 2024 is also contributing to the widespread optimism surrounding the flagship cryptocurrency.