Bank of Egypt Ups Withdrawal Limits for Instant Payments

Egypt’s central bank has increased the amount of money that can be withdrawn via payment service providers.

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) said last week that it amended its daily and monthly withdrawal limits through payment service providers (PSP) applications under its rules for participating in instant payment networks.

According to the CBE, the maximum daily transaction limit will be increased from 60,000 Egyptian pounds (around $2,000) to 120,000 Egyptian pounds starting Wednesday (March 15). The maximum monthly limit will be raised to 400,000 Egyptian pounds (about $13,000), up from 200,000.

The change comes in a year in which the payments industry is poised to make great leaps toward real-time payments (RTP) for all, as Rusiru Gunasena, senior vice president of RTP product development and strategy at The Clearing House, argued in the PYMNTS eBook, “2023 Payments New Year’s Resolutions.”

“And the timing couldn’t be better,” wrote Gunasena. “With a slowing economy and rising interest rates, businesses and consumers need faster access to funds to pay bills, or perhaps take advantage of more favorable interest rates.”

He contends that the industry can collectively move toward real-time payments by recognizing that banking clients and credit union members, on both the consumer and business side, are using and demanding more real-time products and services, including payments.

Meanwhile, recent research by PYMNTS has found that more than half of retailers — 52% in the U.S. and 56% in the U.K. — either accept real-time payments or plan to do so in the next three years.

“[And] with the FedNow real-time payment rail set to go live this summer, instant payments are ready for their close-up,” PYMNTS wrote last month.

It’s clear in real-time payments programs being backed by payment technology providers, including ACI Worldwide, whose ACI Instant Pay product launched in January to tap into the trend. Real-time settlement means greater liquidity for merchants, while also making more of their customers happy.

“Settlement for the merchant will happen instantly,” Basant Singh, head of merchant payments at ACI Worldwide, said in an interview with PYMNTS.

“The benefit to the consumer is that there is another option for them, especially to the newer demographics like Gen Z and younger generations. They are very keen to adopt this kind of instant payment. This is the right payment option for them that fits their lifestyle.”