Three Egypt-based banking institutions will be establishing a 1 billion Egyptian pound Fintech fund (appr. $63.6 million) in order to offer support to Fintech firms (starting October 2021).
The three banking institutions include the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, and Banque du Caire, along with encouraged participation and support for the Fintech fund from other local banks and financial institutions.
As mentioned in the announcement, the fund will mainly focus on supporting Fintech solutions so they can transform the MENA region country into a regional hub for the financial technology sector.
The Egyptian Fintech fund is planning to support virtual banking and the wider financial services industry. It will also focus on the development of Fintech apps that are able to extend banking and financial services to various segments of society in an economical and convenient manner.
Investments from the Fintech fund will be channeled towards domestic and global Fintechs. It also focuses on supporting young professionals who are planning to work in this nascent sector.
As noted in the update, the Egypt Fintech fund intends to establish an environment that’s able to attract and nurture new talent. It also aims to encourage skilled professionals to continue working in Egypt after the training period.
As first reported by Fintech News Middle East, the participation of banking institutions in this fund “stems from their belief in the importance of keeping pace with global developments in the field of financial technology, which is the future of the banking and financial industry in Egypt and the world.”
The Fintech industry is playing an important role in supporting Egypt’s digital transformation strategy, which has been a key focus area that’s part of the country’s Vision 2030 strategy.
Fintech is quickly gaining widespread adoption in Egypt, where financial inclusion is a significant challenge that must be addressed to promote sustainable economic growth. Egypt is still one of the most unbanked nations globally, with two-thirds of the country’s residents not being able to access modern financial services.
However, the country has been making steady progress by offering support to various Fintech initiatives. Several regulatory changes such as issuing licenses to non-banking financial firms and Fintechs, as well as updated regulations for cashless transactions and virtual banks have been recently introduced.