The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) is set to introduce a card tokenization system in the first quarter of 2025, as announced by Ehab Nasr, Assistant Sub-Governor for Payment Systems and Services, during the 11th Digital Payments, Financial Inclusion, and Digital Banking (PAFIX) Conference.
The conference, part of the Cairo ICT exhibition held from 17 to 20 November held the Egypt International Exhibition Center in New Cairo, highlighted Egypt’s advancements in digital payment systems.
Card tokenization replaces traditional card numbers with temporary tokens stored on digital devices or platforms. This method enhances transaction security by ensuring merchants never access the actual card details, reducing fraud risks and enabling smoother digital payments.
Nasr detailed Egypt’s accelerating progress in digital payments, projecting the total value of electronic transactions to surpass EGP 22 trillion by the end of 2024—a significant increase from EGP 7 trillion in 2021. Similarly, the number of transactions is anticipated to reach six billion by year-end, up from one billion just three years earlier.
Egypt’s banking sector has also seen notable expansion. By September 2024, the number of banking cards issued exceeded 67 million, marking a 30 percent growth since December 2021. Of these, over 40 million were “Meeza” cards. The number of electronic point-of-sale (POS) terminals has similarly increased, reaching 1.3 million in 2024 from 169,000 in 2021. Transactions through POS terminals are expected to surpass EGP 640 billion by the end of the year, reflecting a 280 percent surge compared to 2021.
The e-commerce sector has grown exponentially, with transactions projected to exceed 260 million by the end of 2024, totaling EGP 180 billion. This marks a significant jump from EGP 29 billion in 2021.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s real-time payment network, InstaPay, continues to flourish. Launched two years ago, InstaPay has attracted 11.5 million users and is expected to process transactions worth EGP 2.7 trillion in 2024, up from EGP 855 billion in 2023. These figures represent extraordinary growth, including a 4,700 percent rise since 2022. InstaPay has also introduced QR code functionality and payment links, with plans to expand its services to include merchant payments next year.
Nasr also revealed plans to enable remittance transfers from Gulf countries to Egypt through InstaPay within the next two months. These initiatives are part of broader efforts by the CBE to strengthen Egypt’s digital payment infrastructure and promote financial inclusion.
