Latest news with #NationalIDs
See - Sada Elbalad
27-03-2025
- Business
- See - Sada Elbalad
CBE Launches Annual 'Women Financial Inclusion Event'
Taarek Refaat Press release 295% Growth in Women's Financial Inclusion Rate from 2016 to the End of 2024 As part of the Central Bank of Egypt's (CBE) commitment to increasing women's financial inclusion rates and encouraging their use of formal financial services, the CBE launched the 'Women Financial Inclusion Event', which annually kicks off on the 8th of March, coinciding with International Women's Day and continues till the end of the month. The CBE revealed that the 'Women Financial Inclusion Event', launched in 2019, has contributed to availing nearly 1.4 million financial products to women by March 2024. This includes the opening of 664,000 bank accounts and 196,000 e-wallets, as well as issuing 530,000 prepaid cards. The event comes in line with the CBE's efforts to promote women's financial inclusion, yielding tangible progress in the financial inclusion rate of women, which reached 68.8% by the end of December 2024, reflecting a 295% growth rate compared to 2016. As a result, around 23.3 million women, out of a total of 33.9 million women aged 15 and above, currently have access to financial services and own transaction accounts. This progress was driven by the CBE's Financial Inclusion Strategy 2022-2025, aimed at promoting financial inclusion across all segments of society, with women at the forefront. The Strategy is founded on several pillars, including the development of women-supportive legal and regulatory environment, the launch of stimulating initiatives and projects in collaboration with ministries, relevant authorities, and international institutions, as well as guiding banks to offer financial products that meet women's needs. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of spreading financial literacy - a key pillar of the Financial Inclusion Strategy -, as it plays a critical role in raising financial awareness and enabling women to make sound financial decisions. Several regulations have been issued to foster supportive legislative and regulatory environment to facilitate women's access to banking services and products. Notably, these regulations include guidelines for financial inclusion products and services that simplify due diligence procedures for individuals and economic activities. This allows customers, particularly women, to open accounts using only their National IDs for personal or business purposes, without requiring any additional documents. This initiative aims to assist housewives, micro-entrepreneurs, and craftspeople, while also enabling women to open accounts for their minor children, addressing barriers that women encounter when engaging with the banking sector, especially divorced or widowed mothers. Within its ongoing efforts to promote women's economic empowerment and provide suitable financial services and products, the CBE has trained bank employees in customer segmentation and retail products departments, in collaboration with international organizations (such as the OECD and Women's World Banking), as this training aimed to encourage them to thoroughly assess women's financial needs. As a result, banks are already issuing and developing tailored financial packages for women within the banking sector that cater to their specific requirements. In light of Fintech's role in boosting women's financial inclusion and facilitating their access to financial services, especially in remote areas, the CBE has sponsored the Digital Saving and Lending Groups Project "Tahwisha." This project aims to incentivize women in Egypt's rural areas and countryside to motivate them to save, and apply for loans to open small and micro-enterprises. As of December 2024, the number of women participating in Tahwisha's electronic application reached approximately 246,400. Furthermore, around 209,000 women within savings groups and 102,500 women outside these groups have benefited from financial literacy and awareness campaigns. As part of promoting digital transformation and integrating women into the formal financial sector, the CBE launched the 'Digitization of International Remittances Project' for Egyptians working abroad. The project aims to provide banking products to remittance recipients, around 1.5 million of whom are women, representing about 85% of total beneficiaries. The CBE also participates in the Women's Economic and Social Empowerment Program (WESEP), which is implemented in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and executed by 'Pathfinder'. read more CBE: Deposits in Local Currency Hit EGP 5.25 Trillion Morocco Plans to Spend $1 Billion to Mitigate Drought Effect Gov't Approves Final Version of State Ownership Policy Document Egypt's Economy Expected to Grow 5% by the end of 2022/23- Minister Qatar Agrees to Supply Germany with LNG for 15 Years Business Oil Prices Descend amid Anticipation of Additional US Strategic Petroleum Reserves Business Suez Canal Records $704 Million, Historically Highest Monthly Revenue Business Egypt's Stock Exchange Earns EGP 4.9 Billion on Tuesday Business Wheat delivery season commences on April 15 News Egypt confirms denial of airspace access to US B-52 bombers News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Lifestyle Pistachio and Raspberry Cheesecake Domes Recipe Videos & Features Bouchra Dahlab Crowned Miss Arab World 2025 .. Reem Ganzoury Wins Miss Arab Africa Title (VIDEO) News Ireland Replaces Former Israeli Embassy with Palestinian Museum News Israeli PM Diagnosed with Stage 3 Prostate Cancer Lifestyle Maguy Farah Reveals 2025 Expectations for Pisces News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers
Egypt Today
26-02-2025
- Business
- Egypt Today
CBE shares new financial inclusion record, 74% of eligible Egyptians actively using accounts
Cairo – February 26, 2025: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has announced a major achievement in the country's financial inclusion efforts, with 74.8 percent of Egyptians aged 15 and above now actively using financial accounts. By the close of 2024, around 52 million Egyptians will be managing their finances through platforms like banks, Egypt Post, mobile wallets, or prepaid cards. This marks a significant leap in financial inclusion, driven by several years of strategic initiatives and collaborative efforts. This 74.8 percent inclusion rate represents a notable improvement from 2023, when the rate was 70.7 percent. The increase demonstrates a 204 percent rise in financial inclusion between 2016 and 2024, despite a growing number of eligible citizens. The CBE attributed much of this progress to the reduction of the minimum account-opening age from 16 to 15 years, which opened up access to financial services for Egypt's youth population. Financial inclusion among women has seen a pronounced increase, with 23.3 million women now holding active accounts by the end of 2024. This represents a 295 percent growth since 2016, and the financial inclusion rate for women has risen to 68.8 percent. Efforts to empower women financially, particularly through tailored policies and campaigns, have been central to this achievement. The financial inclusion rate for youth (aged 15 to 35 years) has also grown significantly. Reaching 53.1 percent, this marks a 65 percent increase from 2020 to 2024. These efforts were supported by policies aimed at encouraging youth participation in Egypt's formal financial sector. In line with the CBE's initiatives, financial inclusion regulations have streamlined account openings. The use of National IDs for opening accounts has allowed individuals, including handicraftsmen, to participate in the formal financial sector. Over 1 million financial inclusion accounts have been opened between 2022 and 2024, along with 400,000 economic activity accounts, designed to facilitate financial transactions for underserved groups. The CBE's financial inclusion success has been bolstered by ongoing collaboration with key stakeholders, including government ministries, regulatory authorities, and the private sector. This teamwork aims to provide economic empowerment for all Egyptians, with a particular focus on women, youth, people with disabilities (PWDs), and entrepreneurs. As part of these efforts, the CBE has also partnered with international organizations such as the European Union and GIZ Egypt, launching campaigns to boost financial literacy and further integrate underserved populations into the formal financial system. Looking forward, Egypt remains committed to expanding its financial inclusion efforts, with a focus on digital financial services and empowering underrepresented communities. The government's broader initiatives, such as the "Decent Life" (Hayah Karima) program, have already improved financial access in rural areas, with over 650,000 new bank accounts opened by mid-2024.
Daily News Egypt
26-02-2025
- Business
- Daily News Egypt
Egypt's financial inclusion rate hits 74.8%, with 52 million using transaction accounts
Financial inclusion rates in Egypt continue to rise, with approximately 52 million citizens now using transaction accounts. The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced on Tuesday that financial inclusion rates had reached 74.8% by the end of 2024, marking a strong performance compared to peer countries. This figure represents the number of Egyptians aged 15 and above who own and actively use accounts – whether with banks, Egypt Post, mobile wallets, or prepaid cards – for financial transactions. The CBE emphasised that the financial inclusion rate only considers citizens who actively use their accounts to manage their finances effectively. This increase has occurred due to the CBE's efforts, in collaboration with the banking sector and relevant stakeholders from ministries and authorities, to achieve economic empowerment for all segments of society, particularly women, youth, people with disabilities (PWDs), and entrepreneurs. The financial inclusion rate of 74.8% by the end of 2024 compares to approximately 70.7% at the end of 2023, reflecting a growth rate of 204% throughout the period from 2016 to 2024. This progress was achieved despite the growth of the citizens' base who are eligible to open accounts, following the CBE's circular to amend the minimum age for youth to open bank accounts from 16 to 15, aligning it with the age for issuing National IDs. Among women, the number using transaction accounts has reached 23.3 million out of 33.9 million, reflecting a growth rate of 295% compared to 2016, with the financial inclusion rate for women reaching 68.8%. The financial inclusion rate of youth (aged 15 to 35 years) has increased to 53.1%, comprising 39.4 million youth, marking a growth rate of 65% throughout the period from 2020 to 2024. The financial inclusion regulations concerned with facilitating account opening for individuals and handicraftsmen using only their National IDs resulted in opening nearly 1 million financial inclusion accounts for individuals, in addition to 400,000 'Economic Activity Accounts' throughout the period from 2022 to 2024. The accounts enabled these individuals to execute their financial transactions within the formal sector. This comes in line with the CBE's directions, to focus on the excluded segments to ensure their access to the financial services with adequate quality, cost and effective usage of these services. The core set of financial inclusion indicators issued by the CBE plays a vital role in monitoring the progress of financial inclusion rates effectively, as well as enabling the development of supportive policies to achieve the economic empowerment of citizens as part of the efforts on the national level, aligning with Sustainable Development Goals and Egypt's Vision 2030. The growth of financial inclusion rates in Egypt over the past years reflects an increase in the citizens' benefits of financial services that are suitable for them, encouraging savings, facilitating financial transactions with reduced time and cost, and ensuring the availability of services anytime and anywhere. This contributes to improving the livelihoods of citizens, as well as promoting the economic empowerment of women and youth.
