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According to the decision of the Central Bank of Egypt, banks were urged to implement simplified procedures for opening accounts, under which an ordinary citizen can easily and conveniently open current accounts or savings accounts with banks. banks..
A source from the Central Bank of Egypt told “Sky News Arabia” that the decision mainly targets the category of owners of small workshops and stores, which is the category that does not deal closely or far with the banks. He added that this measure aims to attract workers from the informal sector to the banking sector, given the state’s orientation towards financial inclusion and the reduction of the circulation of cash.
According to the Egyptian Statistics Authority, informal economic establishments represent around 53% of the total number of economic establishments in all Egyptian governorates..
Workers and professionals
By its recent decision, the Central Bank seeks to meet all the challenges that the category of workers and professionals faced when opening accounts by allowing the use of realistic and simple methods applicable, such as ensuring the accuracy of their accounts. data through these. deal with them or through social media pages, if available. And other methods available.
The decision includes micro-enterprises, artisans and liberal professions, as the Central Authority has ordered to open accounts for this category using the identity document of the owner of the establishment, or of certain partners under the name of an economic activity, in the event that there is no fixed place or official documents, if they wish to open accounts in the name of the activity or workshops that belong to them.
The central bank has also guided the banking sector, taking into account that the banking products provided to these categories are commensurate with the limits of their eligibility and the scale of the risks associated with them..
Mahmoud Mughrabi – the owner of a small grocery store – followed the central bank’s decision and commented on “Sky News Arabia” saying he does not deal with banks, does not have a bank account and hardly dealt with banks except in the narrowest limits..
The shop owner added: “Most of my business transactions are done in cash without a bank transaction, and I prefer not dealing with banks due to the bureaucratic procedures required to open an account, but if the deal was made easier. and the account opening fees waived, I would have an account, especially since some government agencies began to refuse cash. “In some of its transactions.”
According to the Central Bank statement, the decision to facilitate the opening of bank accounts is an “unprecedented step” in solving the problems faced by citizens, especially the simpler ones, when dealing with banks..
According to the bank’s guidelines, in the event that the data in the identity document, such as position or address, differ from the data provided by the citizen in the account opening form, it is sufficient to present a ” card ”, a license to exercise a profession, a fiscal card or a document from the General Insurance Fund or the Labor Office to prove employment You can also submit a water, electricity or gas bill, or a rental contract to prove the address.
In the case of micro-enterprises, accounts are opened if the establishment does not have a trade register or a permit to practice, and it is possible to be satisfied with a real estate contract, even if it is a preliminary contract or a lease contract..
According to World Bank statistics, 33% of Egyptians over the age of 15 have financial accounts in banks or through the mail, and around 44 million citizens can be added to the formal financial sector..
General orientation of the State
Dr Hisham Ibrahim, banking expert and professor of finance and investment at Cairo University, said the central bank’s decision was part of a general direction for the state being implemented. He told Sky News Arabia that the decision had benefits from several perspectives, the most important of which relates to the management of the informal economy..
Ibrahim pointed out that the group targeted by the Central Bank falls mainly in the informal sector category and therefore does not benefit from all the services provided by the banking sector, whether they are loans or other banking products..
The banking expert considered that the timing of the launch of this step is important, in the midst of the implementation of the plan to impose restrictions on the handling of cash, saying: The question is not limited to only financial levels and economic, but there are health and social dimensions allowing the ordinary citizen to enter the official system..
The recent move by the Central Bank of Egypt is not the first of its kind in this regard, as it announced last January that people in the age groups 16 to 21 would be allowed to open bank accounts in banks without having to do so. for the approval of the guardian, a decision that does not contradict the law It aims to include a new class of citizens in the banking system.
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