FinTech Egypt is an initiative powered by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), and this is its first report, which was launched with the aim of availing a comprehensive and holistic overview of the unprecedented growth that the financial technology (fintech) sector has been experiencing.

The report showed that investments in the sector soared by over 300 percent during the last 12 months, indicating the development and the expansion of mature and scaled fintech and fintech-enabled start-ups.

In this respect, the report said that start-ups operating in the sector increased from only two start-ups in 2014 to 112 by the end of 2021 in more than 14 innovative sub-sectors, including e-payments and remittances, B2B marketplaces, and lending and alternative finance.

24 start-ups out of this total have expanded at the regional and international levels while enjoying significant presence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, gulf countries, and Europe, according to the report.

Regarding the human capital aspect, the report highlighted that the majority of Egyptian fintech start-ups were established by young people whose ages ranged between 25 and 35 years.

“The 2021 Fintech Landscape Report comes in line with the efforts exerted by the CBE to promote the fintech industry since the launch of its Fintech and Innovation Strategy in 2019 in accordance with the directives of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to achieve the digital transformation goals of the Egyptian state as part of its 2030 Vision,” said Rami Aboul-Naga, the CBE’s deputy governor.

“In light of this, the Fintech regulatory sandbox was launched, a series of market here2hear roundtable discussions were conducted to pinpoint market demand areas, and promotion of Fintech talents through dedicated educational programmes.”

For his part, the CBE’s First Sub-Governor for the Information Technology Sector, Ayman Hussein, said that efforts to support the fintech industry have yielded in the creation of an optimistic future for a promising pool of Egyptian fintech and fintech-enabled start-ups and investments.

“Such efforts are expected to prosper in 2022 with the launch of the Fintech and Innovation Hub (Grid), in addition to the Fintech Fund that was established by the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, and Banque du Caire, which is worth more than EGP 1.3 billion and aspires to become the largest Fintech focused fund in the region,” Hussein explained.

Rasha Negm, the CBE’s assistant sub-governor for financial technology and innovation, noted that this report comes as an initial step to provide a comprehensive view for all the fintech ecosystem stakeholders in the Egyptian market as well as underpinning the unprecedented growth that Egypt has been witnessing in the sector.

She added that the report’s outcomes are based on surveys that included primary data received from 112 fintech and fintech-enabled start-ups as well as 18 ecosystem facilitators, including incubators, accelerators, investors, and supporting organisations.

“This report is expected to be a catalyst for future innovation and support for cooperation between all stakeholders of the Fintech ecosystem”, she added.

The Fintech Egypt Initiative is a result of the CBE’s endeavours to promote the fintech industry and provide a full-fledged understanding of the developments witnessed in this vibrant sector.