CBE Extends Fees Exemption for Online Banking Transactions

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced extending the exemption from commissions and fees for all bank transfer services that take place in the Egyptian pound through electronic channels in addition to the continuation of issuing electronic wallets until the end of 2022.

Exempting transfer expenses for the first monthly transaction from any mobile phone wallet 

The Central Bank obligated banks to set a pricing policy on transfer services for natural persons only through the mobile phone wallet, while exempting all citizens from transfer expenses for the first monthly transaction from any mobile phone wallet to any other mobile phone wallet, and setting a maximum limit for difficulty estimated at EGP 1 per transaction.

The bank also obligated the necessity of setting a maximum transfer commission estimated at 0.5% of the transfer value and not exceeding EGP 10 for transfer transactions that take place between any mobile phone wallet and any other mobile phone wallet that is not affiliated with the same service provider.

Exempting expenses of issuing prepaid cards

With regard to bank cards, the central bank clarified that citizens will be exempted from all the expenses of issuing prepaid cards.

The Central Bank obliged all banks to cancel all fees and commissions borne by private sector traders on operations using contactless payment tools issued by banks operating in Egypt.

The Central Bank also obligated banks to cancel all fees borne by private sector merchants from micro, small and medium-sized enterprises wishing to activate electronic collection services via the Internet, with the necessity of committing to activating the express withdrawal code, as well as accepting national payment cards “Meeza” through applications and websites.

CBE Increases Cash withdrawals from ATMs of other banks to 4,000 EGP

The Central Bank of Egypt set a maximum limit of EGP 5 as a commission on cash withdrawals from ATMs for cards issued by other banks, while increasing the maximum limit for cash withdrawals per transaction from ATMs of other banks to 4,000 EGP.