Fintech event Seamless North Africa 2023 kicks off in New Cairo

Regional fintech event Seamless North Africa has kicked off in Egypt’s New Cairo with the participation of over 4,000 from international, regional, and local financial and banking institutions, according to an official statement on Monday. The event lasts two days at New Cairo’s Egypt International Exhibitions Centre.

The conference’s main theme is The Gateway to Fintech in the Middle East and Africa.

Up to 150 international and local experts, and more than 100 exhibitors, are participating in the event.

“Egypt gives special care to financial technology as the bedrock for the government’s integrated strategy to build a digital economy that copes with future endeavours and challenges and maximizes utilization of available development opportunities,” said Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology in an opening statement on behalf of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, Hassan Abdallah, announced issuing of the new edition of the Fintech Outlook report which includes several positive indicators of the development of the Egyptian fintech sector.

The report showed that the Egyptian fintech sector attracted around $800 million in investment in 2022.

During the Seamless event, the CBE signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Central Bank of Nigeria to exchange expertise in fintech, innovation, e-payment, and financial inclusion.

Another MoU was signed with the London Institute of Banking and Finance to provide Egyptian fintech cadres with training programs, workshops, and courses.

Deputy CBE Governor Rami Abou El-Naga said that the total value of transactions conducted via the InstaPay application reached around EGP 112.7 billion ($3.6 billion) by the end of March 2023, 

The CBE launched the National Instant Payment Network and InstaPay mobile application last year to enable clients to process electronic fund transfers seamlessly and instantly at any time.