Visa and the Egyptian Banks Company (EBC) have formed a partnership to simplify and enhance the international remittance process for Egyptians residing abroad.
This development comes after EBC’s collaboration announcement with Mastercard on February 7, 2024, aimed at enhancing Egypt’s digital payments landscape and promoting inclusive economic growth. The collaboration will leverage EBC’s technological infrastructure and Visa’s digital financial services to provide advanced digital wallet and electronic payment solutions.
The partnership aligns with the strategies of the Egyptian government and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to encourage and facilitate remittances from Egyptians working overseas.
EBC, serving as the technological arm of the CBE, manages and develops various domestic payment ecosystems in Egypt, including the Instant Payments Network (IPN) and the InstaPay application.
The CBE has also implemented measures to regulate credit card usage by Egyptians abroad. Customers failing to provide documented evidence of credit card use during their overseas stay within 90 days may face consequences such as credit card suspension and inclusion in a platform managed by the Egyptian Credit Bureau.
According to the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the Egyptian Banks Company and the CBE, the initial project focuses on the integration of a service into the InstaPay application. This service enables customers to manage fund transfers from Visa-linked accounts outside Egypt into the accounts of registered customers or other customers through the Instant Payments Network (IPN).
The IPN serves as an instant payment network, providing direct access to all accounts and facilitating real-time instant fund transfers. Customers have the option to use this service for sending money to bank accounts using various details such as account number, mobile number, and digital wallets.
The second project entails collaborations with banks and financial institutions to simplify transfers to recipients in Egypt using the phone number or username directory of the IPN.
