Regulatory Alerts2016-02-15
Circular dated February 14, 2016 regarding POS devices
In a speech on February 14th, 2016, the Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, addressed the issue of some businesses circumventing the Egyptian Pound in local transactions by using credit cards issued by banks within Egypt. He highlighted that this behavior was against the rules and regulations set out by the regulatory authorities for goods and services traded in EGP and violated international agreements or other laws. He emphasized on the urgent need to update the software used on Point of Sale (POS) terminals, either by the POS terminals themselves or a specific device linked to them, to enable them to accept foreign currency transactions within Egypt using credit cards or debit cards issued by Egyptian banks with EGP. This should also allow transactions in EGP or foreign currencies with credit cards or payment cards issued from banks outside of Egypt. He further added that the Central Bank would grant a grace period of two months to banks to update their POS terminal software.