The conference witnesses the participation of 9 Egyptian ministers and more than 1400 local and international participants, and more than 150 speakers among the most significant specialists of fintech, payments, and eCommerce

H.E. Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister of Egypt, launched the international fintech conference “Seamless North Africa 2019”. Where the conference is hosted by the Central Bank of Egypt, under the auspices of Prime Minister. And the conference – that is held for two days – is organized for the second year in a row, in cooperation with Arab Economic Unity Council League of Arab States, and with the participation of the Egyptian Banking Institute.

Among the key participants of the conference, was of H.E. Dr. Tarek Amer, Governor, Central Bank of Egypt, and Ministers of Social Solidarity, Justice, Supply and Internal Trade, Parliamentary Affairs, Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research, Planning and Administrative Reform, Communications and Information Technology, and Transportation, and number of government officials from Arab countries.

There was also participation from the League of Arab States, represented by: H.E. Ambassador Hossam Zaki, Assistant Secretary General of the League of Arab States, H.E. Ambassador Mohamed Al Rabie, Secretary General, Arab Economic Unity Council League of Arab States, H.E. Atef Helmy, President of the General Assembly, Arab Federation for Digital Economy, and H.E. Dr. Ali Mohamed Al-Khouri, Advisor, Arab Economic Unity Council League of Arab States Chairman of Arab Federation for Digital Economy.

Also, the event, that is considered one of a kind in Africa, had participation of more than 1400 participants form inside and outside Egypt. And more than 150 of the most recognized experts, locally and internationally, in the fields of fintech, payments, and eCommerce, along with a large number of fintech startups.

The conference started with opening of the exhibition of fintech and innovation, where H.E. Prime Minister, accompanied by H.E. Governor, Central Bank of Egypt, and number of government officials from Arab countries, checked the venues of the exhibition, where more than 50 exhibitors of fintech and eCommerce service providers participate.

And in his opening speech, Prime Minister, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, welcomed the guests of Egypt and the participants in the conference. He emphasized that “Fintech” is the way to achieve a boom in the efficiency and effectiveness of financial and banking services provided to the different categories of society, especially common citizens, and that it would bring new type of job opportunities for the youth. He emphasized that his government is keen to cover all the costs required to avail non-cash payment tools for the citizens, to utilize its numerous features without any extra cost incurred on them. From this comes the importance of such conference, where the topics discussed and tackled within, are aligned with the global directives, and the efforts exerted by the country towards transformation to digital economy, and further financial inclusion. And at the front of those efforts is establishing the National Council of Payments, chaired by Mr. President of the Arab Republic of Egypt. He also commended the effort exerted by the work group of the Central Bank, which is appreciated by everyone, as the group works to cope with international standards of transformation towards non-cash payment systems.

H.E. Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, thanked the Egyptian government and all the ministries and authorities that used to, and still working with the Central Bank, he also thanked them for providing all support and cooperation, that led to all the achievements. Those could have never occurred without team work, he emphasized that “developing fintech industry represents a very important episode of economic reform, due to its contribution to availing banking services to the Egyptian citizen at a competitive price, and in a manner that would achieve financial inclusion. The conference with all its participants and experts is a great chance to know how the fintech has developed around the world, which the Central Bank is very determined to keep pace with, this is reflected very clear with its fintech strategy, which enables Egypt to move quickly enough to cope with the great developments at this field.

The first day of the conference had a number of workshops and seminars conducted by experts of information technology. Where the keynote speakers discussed many important topics, related to the two main pillars of the conference, “fintech” and “eCommerce”. In addition, the same day witnessed signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), by Ms. Lobna Helal Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Egypt, and Judge Khaled El Nashar, Deputy Chairman, Financial Regulatory Authority, Judge Ahmed Saeed, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Unit (EMLCU), and Eng. Mustafa Abdel-Wahed, NTRA’s Acting Executive President. The MoU was signed in the presence of H.E. Prime Minister, H.E. Governor of Central Bank, and H.E. Dr. Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, and Dr. Mohamed Omran, Chairman of Financial Regulatory Authority. It was signed for coordination and collaboration among those fintech regulatory bodies as per the frame of specialization of each of them. Also, H.E. Prime Minister, attended the signature of another MoU between Central Bank of Egypt and Ministry of Social Solidarity, it was signed by H.E. Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, and H.E. Ms. Ghada Waly, Minister of Social Solidarity. The second MoU was for the purpose of coordination between the two parties to utilize the payment automation for social solidary network, like financial social subsidies, and other new programs like issuing special cards for persons with special needs, which will support the country’s direction towards transformation to digital economy, and further financial inclusion.

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