• Egypt has advanced- internationally- by two positions and 10 degrees in Financial Inclusion Index
• EFSA participated in the Financial Inclusion Week by some events related to microfinance and microinsurance activities
• EFSA organized 10 training programs in microfinance for NGOs
• Luxor hosted the 10th Microfinance Training Program which was organized by EFSA
Sherif Samy – EFSA’s Chairman revealed that within the framework of the Arab Financial Inclusion Week, the Authority organized a two-day training program in microfinance for Civil Society & NGOs in Qena and Sohag governorates. He pointed out that another workshop will also be held in the coming days on the successful international experiences in the field of micro-insurance, in which a large number of insurance companies and the Egyptian Microfinance Union will participate in.
EFSA’s Chairman noted that the last training program which was held in Luxor was the tenth program this year in the field of microfinance. It was attended by about 60 representatives of civil society & NGOs in Qena and Sohag. Also, he pointed out that Upper Egypt has the lion’s share of these programs, as there was six events which were held in Fayoum, Minya, Assiut, Luxor and Aswan.
Sherif Samy stressed that the Authority is interested in achieving financial inclusion through introducing new financial products and services targeting low-income and other financially marginalized groups who are not benefiting from dealing with banks and other insurance or financing entities. He noted that the efforts exerted in the field of non-banking financial services were clearly shown by the issuance of the Microfinance Law, followed by the introduction of the micro-insurance, and the preparation of a new draft law on financial leasing and factoring , which includes the introduction of micro financial leasing.
He pointed out that Global Microscope Report 2016 which is published annually by the Economist Intelligence Unit presents the conditions of financial inclusion in the world. The report revealed that Egypt climbed two positions and 10 degrees in the financial inclusion since 2014. Egypt was classified as a Movers & Shakers together with other three countries, that is in light of the activation of microfinance law and the issuance of EFSA’s rules and standards that govern the activity. He pointed out that micro insurance activity will be available in the market within 2017.
Also, Sherif Samy pointed out that achieving financial inclusion depends to a large extent on the availability of means of payment offered by Information and Communication Technology (ICT). He added that EFSA has therefore been keen to organize the issuance of standard insurance policies through the Internet. In this regard, he welcomed the rules that are issued by the Central Bank of Egypt on offering mobile payment services. He added that it was a great achievement that allowed the expansion of the use of mobile payment services to support the benefit of more individuals and small enterprises of financial services. He pointed out that the said rules included the fact that the associations and civil institutions licensed to engage in microfinance activity are allowed to transfer the value of the loan or receive installments from their clients periodically.
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