Circular dated June 23, 2021 regarding extending the exemption of some banking services from commissions in light of the precautionary measures to confront the Corona virus

Dear Sir / Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank

Greetings,

With reference to our circular dated March 15, 2020, and its subsequent circulars regarding the precautionary procedures and measures to be taken to ensure the continuity of banks' operations and various activities to meet customer needs in light of the continuous monitoring of the banking market and banking operations, and to provide further support and facilitation to citizens in order to benefit from the achievements realized during the past period, with the increasing customer inclination towards using electronic payment methods and channels, and to achieve the current orientation of the Central Bank of Egypt and the banking sector towards transforming into a less cash-dependent society, please be kind enough to direct the implementation of the following:

First: Exemptions and Fees for Some Banking Services, effective from July 1 to December 31, 2021:

1. Regarding Bank Transfers, customers are continued to be exempted from all expenses and commissions related to bank transfer services in Egyptian Pounds.

2. Regarding mobile payment services, the following is continued:
   a. Issuing electronic wallets for free. b. Eliminating all commissions and fees related to transfers between mobile phone accounts.
   c. Eliminating all commissions and fees related to transfers between any mobile phone account and any bank account.

3. Regarding bank cards, the issuance of prepaid cards for citizens is continued for free upon the bank's Contactless "Contactless" cards, provided that those cards are Contactless "Contactless" cards, upon the bank's initiation of issuing this type of card.

4. Regarding ATM transactions for bank cards, the elimination of fees and commissions related to cash withdrawals is continued, with the issuing bank bearing those fees and commissions, which does not include credit card rewards.

5. Regarding payment services using contactless payment instruments, licensed acquiring banks with electronic acceptance authorization are committed to eliminating all fees and commissions borne by private sector merchants on transactions made using contactless payment instruments issued by banks operating in the Arab Republic of Egypt and without entering a PIN, with the issuing bank of the contactless payment instrument being committed to reimbursing interchange fees to the acquiring bank.

6. Regarding the initiative to increase the number of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) wishing to activate electronic collection services via the Internet (E-Commerce) from private sector merchants, licensed acquiring banks with electronic acceptance authorization (E-Commerce) are committed to eliminating all fees borne by private sector merchants from micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) wishing to activate electronic collection services via the Internet (E-Commerce) for the first time, with the necessity of adhering to activating the Quick Response (QR) code and also accepting national payment cards "Mada" through those applications and electronic websites. The fees mentioned above include the following:
   a. Service activation fees, which are paid once before starting service activation. b. Monthly service fees during the period mentioned above.
   c. Additional service fees (if any), which include, for example, but not limited to, card encryption services "Tokenization", recurring payment services "Recurring", etc.

Second: Modification of Interchange Fees on Cash Withdrawals for Prepaid Cards and Debit Cards for Acquiring Banks of ATMs to become 4.5 Egyptian Pounds instead of 2.5 Egyptian Pounds, effective from July 1, 2021, with the limit for cash withdrawals from ATMs for acquiring banks (us-Off) being raised to become 4,000 Egyptian Pounds as a minimum limit.

Please accept the highest respect,

Tarek Amer