Egypt’s CBE, Arab Monetary Fund ink agreement to tap regional payment settlements, set-offs

Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has signed an agreement with the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) to register with the AMF’s Buna platform that governs intra-payment settlements and set-offs in the Arab region, CBE announced on Thursday.

Launched in February 2020, Buna is a regional multi-currency payment platform, which avails clearing and settlement services in Arab and international currencies that meet the eligibility criteria related to the clearing and settlement of inter-Arab financial transactions, and transactions between Arab countries and their key trading partners as well.

AMF launched Buna with the objective of enabling financial institutions, including commercial and central banks, to send and receive cross-border payments across the Arab region and beyond in Arab currencies, as well as key international currencies, in an efficient, cost-effective, risk-controlled and transparent way.

In line with Egypt Vision 2030, CBE has adopted a strategy that focuses on digital transformation and financial inclusion, particularly in the banking sector.

This strategy includes improving e-payment in the Egyptian market, cashless transactions, boosting fintech businesses, launching the national payment system Meeza and InstaPay app.

Under such a strategy, the number of e-wallets in the Egyptian market grew over the past three years to 26 million, up from nine million in previous years, with 23 banks providing related services, according to CBE’s data.

Moreover, e-commerce transactions throughout the country rose in value from EGP 16 billion to EGP 30 billion as well.