CBE Releases Regulations on Payment Tokenization

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) released regulations pertaining to payment card tokenization on electronic device applications on 8 March, according to the “Egyptian Streets” website.

Once approved and implemented, the regulations will effectively allow for contactless payments through applications like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay among other fintech services.

Currently, payment cards in Egypt can function in both offline and online modes, as well as contactless, while worldwide, the option to pay via payment card tokenization has proved to be popular, with many banks offering tokenization services on various devices such as smartphones and smart watches.

The report highlighted that these services are meant to “stimulate the use of new electronic payment tools for customers to carry out various electronic banking transactions.”

The regulations specifically address payment tokenization in which a payment token is utilized throughout the entire payment transaction from the point of sale to the acquirer. They also stipulate a Consumer Device Cardholder Verification Method (CDCVM), a type of verification enabled by card networks when conducting contactless transactions stemming from mobile and electronic devices, or PIN use.

The regulations fit within the framework of CBE’s efforts to promote digital development as per Daily News Egypt.

In recent years, Egypt has been increasingly facilitating payment services that depend less on cash through companies and solutions such as InstaPay, Telda, Fawry, Vodafone Cash among others, which have become widely accessible and beneficial to Egypt’s under banked population.

Spotify Rolls Out Tiktok-Style Discovery Feeds, Smart Shuffle For Playlists & More

Spotify, at its ‘Stream On’ event, announced the biggest evolution of its app on smartphones. All the new features announced will be pushed to Android and iOS devices.

The recommendations are generated algorithmically, similarly to TikTok videos and YouTube Shorts.

The Spotify update shows the new TikTok-inspired home feed, which includes video and audio previews for music, podcasts, and audiobooks. The company calls this new makeover “a new, dynamic mobile interface built for deeper discovery and more meaningful connections between artists and fans” and that it’s “our biggest evolution yet.”

The new feature aims to boost what the company calls “foreground discovery,” Co-presidents Gustav Söderström and Alex Norström told the Wall Street Journal. Rather than discovering new music through viral TikTok trends and coming to Spotify to stream it, the company wants users to unlock new tracks natively — a factor it believes is key to retaining users.

The company believes that the new generation of listeners wants to sample the audio before completely committing to it. And so, to provide an active experience, Spotify provides a sample of the audio in TikTok-inspired short-video style in the Home feed. All you need to do is tap on the Music, Podcasts & Shows, or Audiobooks feed to explore visual and audio previews of playlists in respective categories.

Spotify is also revamping the discovery feature in Search. Spotify users can scroll down and check out the Canvas clips from tracks of some of their favorite artists or genres. Everything, right from sharing with friends, saving the song to the playlist, and following the artist, can be done from one place.