Flourishing fintechs and young Egyptians shake up banking

Egypt has one of the most dynamic financial industries in the Middle East and Africa. The number of fintech companies and payment service providers in the country has grown over fivefold since 2018, according to Cairo-based think tank Entlaq.

In addition, three-quarters of the country’s 70.5 million adults now have formal bank accounts, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) – up from 12 percent in 2014.

This explosive growth is being driven by widespread adoption of digital wallets, increased acceptance of online payment mechanisms by merchants and regulatory support.

“Egypt’s fintech scene is vibrant and promising, with startups increasingly serving customer segments – particularly in the informal sector – that traditional banks have struggled to serve,” says Islam Zekry, group chief finance and operation officer and executive board member of Commercial International Bank (CIB) Egypt. 

Growth is being driven by the country’s “young, digital-first population and regulatory momentum”, Zekry says. 

CIB

In 2024 Egypt accounted for 10 percent of all fintech operators in Africa, ranking fourth on the continent behind Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya, according to a report by the European Investment Bank.

The CBE launched a fintech and innovation strategy in 2019 designed to promote digital transformation, financial inclusion and innovation. Since then, increasing amounts of funding have been invested in the sector. In 2024, Egypt secured 35 percent of all fintech investment in Africa, according to a report this year by FutureMatters and the Global Finance and Technology Network. 

Egyptian microfinance lending and payments company MNT Halan raised the most in private equity funding on the continent over that period – $157.5 million – followed by Cairo-based payment service provider Paymob, which raised $72 million, the report says. 

Initial uptake of fintech took time following the central bank’s push towards widespread adoption. But its 2022 launch of InstaPay, an instant payment system connected into a national network of real-time electronic transactions, has been cited by the CBE as instrumental in stimulating the sector’s growth. 

‘Ripe for disruption’

That year, Ahmad Mokhtar was prompted to move to Egypt from California’s Silicon Valley to set up his fintech Swypex, a platform helping Egyptian businesses secure better visibility and control over their finances.

“There was this massive tailwind of tech innovation in Egypt and the market was ripe for disruption, essentially to introduce new products to digitalise spending,” Mohktar says. 

“The challenge was multifaceted and acceptance wasn’t widespread [initially], but the government solved that almost overnight by allowing private companies to come in and address the needs of the market directly,” he says. 

“This spurred adoption and [helped] businesses transition quite seamlessly from mostly manual spending to more automated digital spending.” 

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Indicative of the shift taking place, Egypt went from having one of the lowest levels of financial inclusion in the world, at 12 percent in 2014 to 70.7 percent of adults (over 46 million) by 2023, according to Entlaq, which focuses its research on entrepreneurship and investment.

Separate figures from the CBE show that financial inclusion rates had grown further by December 2024, to 76.3 percent of the country’s 70.5 million citizens aged 15 and over.

Mohamed Merdan, strategy and market insights associate at Entlaq, says: “The high number of people involved in the informal economy was a major challenge for the Egyptian market, but broadening financial inclusion through mobile wallets caused a huge movement.” 

The total value of payments made electronically in Egypt grew to EGP2.5 trillion ($52.3 billion) in 2024, from EGP2.1 trillion ($44.06 billion) in 2023, Egypt’s finance minister Mohamed Maait said in a State Information Service announcement.

In the second quarter of 2025, the value of mobile wallet transactions reached EGP943 billion ($19.8 billion), a 72 percent year-on-year increase. 

Meanwhile, the value of Egypt’s mobile payments market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 16.76 percent between 2025 and 2030, to reach $184.3 billion, according to Mordor Intelligence. 

Andrej Lisakov/Unsplash

‘Not just about technology’ 

Egyptian commercial banks have been key to the sector’s rollout and driven Cairo’s emergence as a fintech hub. 

CIB has forged strategic partnerships with leading fintechs and telecoms firms. It is also nurturing local talent by investing in digital infrastructure such as its API Gateway, which enables developers to integrate digital services through open-source platforms, and supporting innovation through accelerators like the American University of Cairo’s Venture Lab and ChangeLabs. 

“These efforts reflect our belief that fintech is not just about technology – it is about transforming financial services and delivering efficient, inclusive and customer-centric solutions,” says Zekry. 

Rising digital adoption in Egypt presents CIB with an opportunity to “deepen its involvement in the fintech industry”, he adds.

The bank’s fintech strategy is grounded on four corporate objectives: to boost its overall value proposition, improve customer experience, reduce operational costs and expand access to underserved parts of the market. 

“There is untapped potential in areas like embedded finance, digital savings and referral-based lending,” Zekry says. 

“These models can unlock access for millions of people currently excluded from formal financial services. We would like to see more data-driven, compliant and scalable solutions that can be embedded into the banking infrastructure without friction.” 

Further reading:

• Egypt’s first digital bank could shake up domestic lending
• Fintech lenders go where banks fear to tread
• Gulf investors show renewed appetite for Egypt’s startups

Egypt has around 140 fintech-focused startups and 40 companies offering technological services that incorporate embedded financial capabilities, according to Entlaq’s Egyptian Fintech Landscape 2024 report. Around 60 percent of fintech companies focus on lending and alternative finance, payments and remittances and B2B marketplaces. 

The most active segments are digital payment services, mobile cash and smart wallets, according to the report. However significant expansion is expected in savings and investments, insurance, financial management, crowdfunding and blockchain as the sector evolves. 

Zekry says many fintechs still need to deepen their understanding of frameworks set by the CBE and Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority, as well as day-to-day activities of traditional banks. “Bridging this knowledge gap is critical to fostering sustainable development and long-term growth.” 

Funding equals acceleration 

A key driver of future growth is venture capital funding, for which Egypt is ranked among the most successful in the Middle East and Africa, according to Entlaq’s Merdan. He says the average amount invested by VCs into Egyptian startups is $250,000, compared to $750,000 globally. 

While this is lower than the global average, Merdan says a characteristic of Egyptian startups is that “if they get venture capital, they go into acceleration mode and can raise up to $7 million compared to a global average of $6 million”. 

Looking ahead, Egyptian banks and fintechs are expected to continue collaborating to strengthen financial services, says Mokhtar. 

“By 2030, if the sector keeps moving at the pace it is today, there will be no household or company that does not rely on digital services – whether this is in leveraging tools like AI to automate jobs, or to organise their finances,” he says. 

“You will have multiple different players, offering different options that are purpose built for customer needs rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.” 

For CIB, partnering with fintechs gives the bank a “strategic edge”, Zekry says.

“It enables faster, smarter implementation and expands our reach into underserved segments we could not effectively serve on our own.”