The payment cards issued by banks operating in the Egyptian market, including instant payment cards, prepaid cards, and credit cards increased to 57.475 million in 2022, according to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).
The number of electronic payment cards was 26.280 million cards in 2017, 29.808 million in 2018, 36.965 million in 2019, 44.826 million in 2020, and 52.090 million in 2021, according to a recent report.
The number of prepaid cards in banks was roughly 28.636 million cards, whereas the number of debit cards stood at about 23.837 million cards, and credit card circulation registered 5.001 million cards in 2022.
An instant debit card is defined as an electronic payment card that is issued by the bank and is linked to a bank account; it allows its holder to transact any on his bank account to carry out any transactions.
As for prepaid cards, they are electronic payment cards issued by the bank and are not linked to a bank account, as they are fed in advance by customers so that they can be used in transactions.
As for credit cards, they are electronic payment cards issued by the bank, which is a credit facility from the bank to the customer, as this card is extracted with a specific credit limit that is determined according to the bank’s credit policy.
Meanwhile, the total number of electronic points of sale (POS) in the Egyptian market grew by 1582% during the period from 2015 to 2022, according to CBE.
Furthermore, the number of POS machines reached 55,876 in 2015, 64,349 in 2016, 68,630 in 2017, 72,503 in 2018, 130,000 in 2019, 394,000 in 2020, 740,000 in 2021, and 940,000 machines in 2022.
Electronic points of sale are defined as devices dedicated to accepting electronic payment transactions, which allow merchants to accept payments from their customers who hold electronic payment tools, in return for the goods or services provided by the merchant, as an alternative to cash payment.
However, 9 banks have licenses to own these machines, which are the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, Alex Bank, Banque du Caire, Commercial International Bank, QNB, Al Ahli, Arab African International Bank, Egyptian Agricultural Bank, and Bank ABC.