Ahram Online-


The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) plans to roll out its card tokenization system in the first quarter of 2025, according to Ehab Nasr, assistant sub-governor for payment systems and services.

Nasr made this announcement during his participation in the 11th Digital Payments, Financial Inclusion, and Digital Banking (PAFIX) Conference on advancements in digital payments in Egypt.

The conference is part of the Cairo ICT exhibition, which officially began on 17 November and will run till 20 November.

Nasr confirmed that all banks and companies have finalized the licensing procedures for implementing the card tokenization system.

Tokenization is when the number on a payment card is replaced with a temporary number, called a token, saved on the phone, watch, or the merchant's website where the customer registers their card.

This method keeps the customer's account safe by using the token instead of the original card number so that the merchant never sees or stores the actual card details. It also reduces the risk of fraud and ensures safer, faster payments.

He also highlighted significant growth in Egypt’s electronic payments sector, projecting that the total value of electronic transactions will surpass EGP 22 trillion by the end of 2024 — a 200 percent growth from EGP 7 trillion in 2021.

Similarly, the number of transactions is expected to reach EGP 6 billion by year-end, reflecting a 500 percent growth compared to one billion transactions in 2021.

Growth in banking cards and POS terminals

Nasr noted remarkable growth in the number of banking cards in Egypt. It exceeded 67 million cards by September 2024, compared to 52 million cards in December 2021 — a 30 percent growth.

He also highlighted that the number of “Meeza” cards surpassed 40 million in the same period.

Electronic points of sale (POS) terminals also experienced a substantial rise, reaching 1.3 million terminals by September 2024, up from 169,000 terminals in 2021.

The total value of transactions through POS terminals is expected to exceed EGP 640 billion by the end of 2024, marking a 280 percent increase compared to 2021.

E-commerce transactions surge

The number of e-commerce transactions is projected to exceed 260 million by the end of 2024, with a total transaction value of EGP 180 billion.

This surge represents a 500 percent increase in transaction value compared to EGP 29 billion in 2021.

InstaPay and real-time payments

Nasr revealed plans to enable remittance transfers from Gulf countries to Egypt through the InstaPay platform within two months. Since its launch two years ago, InstaPay has attracted 11.5 million users, showcasing its growing popularity.

He also projected that the real-time payment network and InstaPay would process 1.5 billion transactions by the end of 2024, with a total value of EGP 2.7 trillion. These figures represent a 215 percent increase compared to EGP 855 billion in 2023 and an extraordinary 4,700 percent growth compared to 2022.

Additionally, InstaPay will offer a new payment service for merchants next year, further advancing digital payment solutions in Egypt.

In related news, Egypt's InstaPay app has launched its latest update, introducing instant money transfers between users via QR codes and payment links for the first time in June.

These developments underscore the CBE’s commitment to enhancing the country’s digital payment infrastructure and expanding its adoption across various sectors.