Egypt, China sign 3 MoUs to boost financial, payment system ties

The Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Hassan Abdalla, received his Chinese counterpart Pan Gongsheng in Cairo, where the two officials discussed enhancing bilateral financial cooperation and witnessed the signing of three memoranda of understanding (MoUs) aimed at deepening economic ties. 

The first MoU was signed between Suez Canal Bank, China-Africa Investment Company (TEDA), and CIPS Limited, the operator of China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System.

The agreement aims to promote the use of the Chinese yuan among businesses operating in the Egypt-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone.

The second agreement was signed between Chinese payment firm Pay and the Egyptian Banks Company (EBC), which manages Egypt’s national payment infrastructure.

This partnership seeks to improve Egypt’s electronic payment ecosystem and broaden acceptance of Pay cards across points of sale and online platforms throughout the country.

Pay also signed a separate MoU with Egyptian fintech PayMob to expand the acceptance of its cards among merchants and websites affiliated with PayMob.

Discussions between the two sides focused on several key areas, including a local currency swap agreement, settling payments in local currencies, Egypt’s issuance of Panda bonds in the Chinese market, and linking the two countries’ payment systems.

They also explored ways to boost the presence of Chinese banks in Egypt and Egyptian banks in China to encourage joint investments.