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Egypt Independent
3 hours ago
- Business
- Egypt Independent
FM: Egyptians abroad key pillar in supporting, enhancing country's regional, int'l stand
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates Badr Abdelaaty said on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, Egyptians living abroad represent a fundamental pillar in supporting and enhancing Egypt's stance regionally and internationally. During a meeting held with members of the Egyptian community residing in Nigeria, as part of his official visit to the capital; Abuja, the Egyptian foreign minister highlighted the political leadership's commitment to providing full support to Egyptians abroad and intensifying efforts to communicate with them through Egypt's diplomatic missions worldwide. The meeting reflects the ministry's keenness on strengthening direct communication with Egyptians abroad and listening to their views and suggestions. Abdelatty highlighted efforts undertaken by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to develop consular services system, ensuring the provision of more efficient and prompt services through Egypt's diplomatic and consular missions across the globe. He explained that the Ministry is currently working on enhancing the use of digital technology in delivering consular services and expanding electronic service offerings to meet the needs of Egyptians abroad. The Egyptian foreign minister also reviewed a number of government initiatives launched to support Egyptians abroad and reinforce their connection with the homeland. These include investment initiatives and economic incentives specifically designed for them, including the initiative to allow Egyptians abroad to import cars, the military service settlement initiative 'Your Home in Egypt' initiative, 'Your Farm in Egypt' initiative, the secure transfer initiative via InstaPay, 'Speak Arabic' campaign and 'Boats of Salvation' initiative. He also mentioned initiatives aimed at facilitating investment procedures for Egyptians abroad and encouraging their contribution to major national projects. Abdelatty also referred to ongoing preparations for the sixth edition of the Conference for Egyptians Abroad, scheduled to take place on August 3 and 4, 2025. The conference serves as an open dialogue platform between Egyptians abroad and decision-makers and is held annually to present ideas and proposals directly to ministers and senior officials, said the minister.
Middle East
7 hours ago
- Business
- Middle East
OPEN// FM: State pays great attention to Egyptians living abroad
CAIRO, July 22 (MENA) -- Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates Badr Abdelatty said the Egyptian state pays great attention to its citizens living abroad. Abdelatty was speaking during a meeting with the Egyptian expat community in Burkina Faso on Tuesday, as part of his visit to Ouagadougou, the second leg of his current West African trip. Abdelatty reviewed the ministry's efforts to improve consular services by adopting modern digital mechanisms and streamlining procedures for more efficient and fast services. He also highlighted the ministry's endeavors in coordination with various state bodies to deal with any challenges facing Egyptian expats communities. The minister also discussed ongoing preparations for the sixth edition of the Egyptians Abroad Conference, which will be held under the slogan "From is the Destination," on August 3-4 in New Cairo. Abdelatty also touched on a number of initiatives launched by the government to support Egyptians living abroad and strengthen their connection to their homeland, such as a zero-customs car import initiative, a recruitment settlement initiative, 'Your Home in Egypt' initiative, 'Your Farm in Egypt' initiative, and an instant remittance transfers service via InstaPay mobile application, among many other initiatives to facilitate investment procedures for Egyptian expats and encourage their contribution to major national projects. Abdelatty embarked on a five-nation tour of West Africa on Monday, leading a high-level business delegation in a push to bolster economic ties and deepen security cooperation across a region facing significant challenges. The tour, which will also include stops in Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, and Senegal, kicked off in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, where Abdelatty held a series of meetings with top Nigerian officials and the regional ECOWAS bloc. (MENA) M A A/M R E
GMA Network
15-07-2025
- Business
- GMA Network
BSP mulls increase in Instapay's P50,000 limit per transaction
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is looking to increase the P50,000 limit per transaction under the InstaPay electronic fund transfer payment system, given the increasing demand from the public, an official said Tuesday. According to BSP assistant governor Redentor 'Dennis' Bancod, the P50,000 limit per transaction was made to keep transactions below the radar of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), as processing times for those above the threshold could take longer. 'Now with this clamor, the BSP is studying the implications of increasing that amount to a certain level," Bancod said in a panel during the Chamber of Thrift Banks Convention. "We know that in the other jurisdictions like Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, they already increased their limits on real-time instant payments, so in our case, we're also studying that,' he added. Launched in 2018, InstaPay allows individuals, businesses, and government institutions to send and receive funds or make payments in real time of up to P50,000 per transaction. Bancod said the central bank is also conducting a similar concurrent study involving another use case of InstaPay, which will be for transactions made between businesses. 'We recognize that most of these requests are actually for a business type of payment, like for SMEs (small and medium enterprises), commercial supply payments, and so on, so forth,' Bancod said. 'The automated clearing house of InstaPay under PPMI (Philippine Payments Management Inc.) is actually already working towards launching a B2B use case, and in that case, it will allow a bigger limit as long as the originator is a business corporation,' he added. –NB, GMA Integrated News
See - Sada Elbalad
09-07-2025
- Business
- See - Sada Elbalad
Egypt Restores Digital Banking Services After Ramses Telecom Fire... ATMs Fully Functional
Taarek Refaat Egypt's banking system has fully restored its digital services, including ATM withdrawals, point-of-sale (POS) payments, and mobile banking applications, following a brief but widespread disruption caused by a major fire at the Ramses Central Telecommunications Center earlier this week. The fire, which broke out Monday evening and continued through Tuesday morning, affected internet connectivity and telecom infrastructure in multiple areas across Cairo, Giza, and Alexandria, disrupting core systems that support Egypt's banking sector. Digital Recovery Across All Banks According to official statements from several banks and a report by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, ATM, POS, mobile banking, and internet banking services have now resumed normal operations across all 36 banks operating in Egypt. During the height of the crisis, several banks temporarily lost access to their digital platforms, including ATM withdrawals and online payments, due to their reliance on internet links connected through the Ramses exchange. However, by 9:00 am on July 8, telecom networks had stabilized through system rerouting and emergency bandwidth reallocation. Only one bank remained affected after that hour, but its issues were fully resolved by the end of the day. 'We worked around the clock, coordinating with telecom operators and central systems to restore services,' a senior banking executive told The Journal. 'Our teams responded rapidly to avoid major financial disruption.' ATM and POS Services Fully Functional Banks have confirmed that over 24,862 ATMs nationwide are once again fully operational, as are POS devices used for electronic payments. Most impacted systems were restored within 12–24 hours, especially in heavily affected areas. Extended Banking Hours and Central Bank Response To ease public pressure and meet growing demand for in-person services, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) authorized banks to extend their working hours. Some branches are now operating until 5:00 p.m., with select outlets in commercial hubs, shopping malls, and clubs staying open as late as 8:00 p.m., including on weekends. Additionally, the CBE temporarily raised the daily cash withdrawal limit for individuals and businesses at bank branches from EGP 250,000 to EGP 500,000, to accommodate those unable to access digital services during the outage. Instapay Services Unaffected Egypt's real-time payment app, InstaPay, operated without interruption throughout the crisis. The platform, which facilitates instant money transfers, bill payments, and mobile top-ups, continued to process transactions normally due to alternative network redundancies and its independent digital architecture. Lessons Learned and Future Planning The incident has prompted many banks to review their disaster recovery protocols and reinforce backup connectivity measures, especially in areas dependent on single telecom sources. Banks are also investing in wider failover systems and cloud-based infrastructure. 'This event was a stress test,' said one IT director at a leading Egyptian bank. 'We now have proof of where our systems are strong and where we need improvement.' read more CBE: Deposits in Local Currency Hit EGP 5.25 Trillion Morocco Plans to Spend $1 Billion to Mitigate Drought Effect Gov't Approves Final Version of State Ownership Policy Document Egypt's Economy Expected to Grow 5% by the end of 2022/23- Minister Qatar Agrees to Supply Germany with LNG for 15 Years Business Oil Prices Descend amid Anticipation of Additional US Strategic Petroleum Reserves Business Suez Canal Records $704 Million, Historically Highest Monthly Revenue Business Egypt's Stock Exchange Earns EGP 4.9 Billion on Tuesday Business Wheat delivery season commences on April 15 News Israeli-Linked Hadassah Clinic in Moscow Treats Wounded Iranian IRGC Fighters News China Launches Largest Ever Aircraft Carrier Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Videos & Features Tragedy Overshadows MC Alger Championship Celebration: One Fan Dead, 11 Injured After Stadium Fall Lifestyle Get to Know 2025 Eid Al Adha Prayer Times in Egypt Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War News "Tensions Escalate: Iran Probes Allegations of Indian Tech Collaboration with Israeli Intelligence" News Flights suspended at Port Sudan Airport after Drone Attacks Videos & Features Video: Trending Lifestyle TikToker Valeria Márquez Shot Dead during Live Stream Technology 50-Year Soviet Spacecraft 'Kosmos 482' Crashes into Indian Ocean
GMA Network
02-07-2025
- Business
- GMA Network
Higala-RCBC tie up onboards 8 rural banks to InstaPay
In an effort to expand the digital footprint of rural banks, the partnership between Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) and homegrown instant payments infrastructure provider Higala Group Inc. has onboarded eight rural banks across the country to InstaPay. Higala and RCBC have jointly created Synerfi, an open payments platform that reduces barriers and accelerates the participation of smaller financial institutions in InstaPay. The companies developed Synerfi to help rural banks as well as microfinance institutions expand their digital transactions through InstaPay as 'traditionally, many rural and community banks have been excluded from the digital financial ecosystem due to regulatory and technological constraints.' Among the onboarded rural banks in Synerfi include Rural Bank of San Antonio Inc., Rural Bank of Lipa City (Batangas), Inc., Progressive Rural Bank Inc., Banco Abucay Inc., Rural Bank of Hermosa (Bataan) Inc., Money Mall Rural Bank Inc., First Philippine Partners Bank Inc. (A Rural Bank), and Lagawe Highlands Rural Bank, Inc. 'This marks the beginning of empowering the underserved banking sector by enabling them to offer digital banking services that are otherwise available only to mainstream and traditional banks,' said Winston Damarillo, president and CEO of Higala. "Connecting rural banks to Instapay and the wider digital ecosystem is not simply an act of digitalization, but a deeper commitment to accelerate financial inclusion in underserved areas. SynerFi continues to demonstrate its promise to drive financial access beyond urban areas and materialize the government's sustainable agenda," said Lito Villanueva, executive vice president and chief innovation and inclusion officer of RCBC. "RCBC is excited to welcome more participants with the shared mission to make banking services accessible to all Filipinos into the instant payment ecosystem," Villanueva added. The RCBC official said the bank and Higala are 'targeting 40 rural banks to be onboarded.' Under their partnership, Higala is providing the technology to operationalize SynerFi while RCBC is acting as the sponsor platform bank and manage the essential regulatory requirements, such as compliance, clearing, and settlement. 'SynerFi seeks to empower rural banks like Rural Bank of San Antonio to access world-class digital banking capabilities. Launching these services with zero capital intensity and without the heavy burden of building dedicated in-house tech and compliance teams is invaluable, enabling us to offer customers top-tier technology and services, truly digitizing our reach.' said Ronaldo Recto, president of the Rural Bank of San Antonio. Meanwhile, Higala also secured a fresh seed funding of $4 million from venture capitalists Talino Venture Studios, Chemonics International, Kadan Capital, Tenco Capital, and 1982 Ventures. 'Fresh funds from our investors will help accelerate Higala's capabilities of powering SynerFi and helping more financial institutions grow and expand their services to their customers and become active players in the digital economy,' Damarilio said. 'After successfully raising our target seed funding of $2.8 million, we've expanded our round to $4 million due to increased interest in Higala and signaling investor confidence in our product,' said Chemonics International president and CEO Jamey Butcher. —AOL, GMA Integrated News
