CBE: Mobile wallets reached 39M in 2023

The number of mobile wallet accounts in Egypt rose to 39.4 million in 2023, driven by consumer demand for easier financial transactions and various initiatives from the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

By the end of September 2023, the total had reached 36.7 million, with 96.2 million transactions amounting to LE 11.64 billion, as explained in the CBE’s economic review for FY2023/2024.

As of September last year, approximately 760,000 "QR codes" or Request to Pay (R2P) transactions were made through mobile wallets, whether via apps, websites, or merchants.

The report also highlighted the CBE's progress in incorporating contactless payments through smartphones.

The CBE is in the final stages of developing the technical infrastructure for "tap on phone" payment systems and highlighted its board of directors’ approval of new regulations to introduce tokenization services and allow contactless payments through smartphones.

In 2021, the central bank opened up registration for companies to apply for licenses to enable mobile contactless payments.