The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has recently launched its Haweya (Identity) project as an application and platform meant to make electronic identity verification easier and facilitate online banking and transactions with online government services.
“Digital ID is the virtual equivalent of traditional identification documents. It consists of a set of e-data that uniquely and verifiably represents a person’s identity online, forming the basis for all official interactions in the digital environment,” said Walid Haggag, a cybersecurity expert known in the media as the “Hacker Hunter”.
He is also an advisor at the Supreme Advisory Council for Cybersecurity and Information Technology. “The project is an important step towards the digitisation of Egypt’s economy and enables people to access financial services with greater ease and security,” he said.
Haweya offers services such as remote bank account opening without visiting a branch in person, e-document authentication, government transactions, digital signatures, and contract verification, all conducted digitally, Haggag explained.
“A digital ID holds personal details like name and date of birth, biometric information such as fingerprints or facial scans, and digital certificates that verify data and confirm the user’s identity,” he said.
Banking expert Sahar Al-Damati said that “in the light of Egypt’s transition towards digital transformation, Haweya is essential to completing banking and governmental services through a unified digital system, particularly since it can be easily accessed via mobile phones.”
The application will help reduce pressure on banks and government offices, save people’s time and effort, cut fuel consumption, and ease traffic congestion, she added.
Alaa Al-Idrissi, an economic expert and a member of the Egyptian Association for Economy and Legislation, said that over the past decade Egypt has progressed in advancing financial inclusion, viewing it as one of the main pillars for achieving a digital economy.
“One of the key features of Haweya is that it relies on technology across all governmental and private institutions. It also contributes to improving the efficiency of public services, addressing obstacles related to administrative inefficiencies, lack of data transparency, and challenges within the overall business environment,” Al-Idrissi said.
Having a digital ID improves the delivery of services to the public and promotes the growth of e-commerce, supporting in the process the economy as a whole, he noted.
The digital economy also helps combat activities within the informal sector, aligning with Egypt’s Vision 2030, Al-Idrissi said. This can be achieved by ensuring that all transactions pass through the banking system and formal institutions, with services provided electronically, thereby compelling informal economic activities to integrate into the official framework and limiting unregulated import and export operations, he stated.
The project will also help the state to accurately monitor economic activities and tax revenues and contribute to improving the efficiency of fiscal policies, Al-Idrissi added.
“Haweya is expected to increase Egypt’s GDP by two to four per cent within five years, while enhancing the efficiency of government operations by reducing paper use, the duplication of procedures, human interventions, and saving both time and costs for people and the state,” he noted.
“The main challenge, however, lies in ensuring that the application reaches the largest possible number of people, especially given common obstacles to financial inclusion, such as illiteracy and limited technological literacy,” Al-Damati said.
Al-Idrissi believes that “the challenge is providing an electronic infrastructure that can cover all the governorates and different areas. Other challenges include people’s ability to learn how to use such technology, the presence of adequate data-protection laws, and the level of coordination and interconnectivity among state institutions.”
Another obstacle lies in people who have vested interests in avoiding digital transactions and benefit from cash-based transactions, he said.
Haggag said that the adoption of a digital identity is central to the success of the project. This, he explained, is achieved through a range of advanced technologies that ensure confidentiality, reliability, and data integrity.
The most prominent security technologies used are encryption, to protect data from unauthorised access, multi-factor authentication, requiring users to verify their identity through multiple methods, such as a password, fingerprint, or one-time code, blockchain, employed in some systems to store records in a secure, decentralised manner, and digital signatures, to ensure that data is authentic and has not been tampered with.
In addition, the Know Your Customer (KYC) mechanism is used in Haweya to verify a user’s identity through facial recognition, linking their data with their national ID and official documents, Haggag said.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 13 November, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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