Circular dated March 5, 2020 regarding establishing a financial inclusion department in banks

Cairo on: March 5, 2020

Dear Mr. Chairman of the Board,

Greetings,

With reference to the interest that the Central Bank of Egypt attaches to achieving financial inclusion as one of the elements of achieving sustainable development and its close relationship with achieving financial stability and enhancing economic growth, and in the context of the effort to remove the basic causes and obstacles that prevent access to banking services and products for all segments of society, especially financially excluded groups, the Central Bank of Egypt's letter dated February 19, 2019 regarding instructions for protecting customer rights was previously issued, which includes publishing financial culture and awareness.

And in continuation of the above, and given that achieving this matter requires further active participation from banks, the Central Bank has deemed it necessary for each bank to establish an independent Financial Inclusion Department reporting to the Executive President, responsible for coordinating internally between the bank's units and departments and the Central Bank of Egypt regarding financial inclusion. The tasks assigned to it shall be, at a minimum, as follows:

1. Preparing a medium-term (3-5 years) strategy for achieving financial inclusion in coordination with the concerned departments in the bank, to be approved by the bank's Board of Directors or its substitute in the case of branches of foreign banks.

2. Preparing an annual action plan, which must include:
   a. Geographic expansion and presence in villages and remote areas. b. Communication with the concerned departments in the bank regarding the development of existing products and working to meet the needs of financially excluded customer groups, especially women and youth.
   c. Expansion in providing financial services, especially electronic ones, including mobile wallets and prepaid cards.
   d. Publishing financial culture and sponsoring related activities. e. Supporting entrepreneurs and encouraging innovative projects.

3. Establishing a mechanism to follow up on the implementation of the bank's projects related to financial inclusion, and to follow up on the implementation of the aforementioned strategy and action plan, and to identify gaps and the procedures taken to avoid them.

4. Providing recommendations and proposals to the Central Financial Inclusion Department at the Central Bank of Egypt based on the bank's practical practices.

5. Coordinating towards the implementation of financial inclusion activities.

6. Determining the number of employees and academic qualifications required for staff in the department, while ensuring the provision of necessary training for them, in addition to considering the availability of qualified technological infrastructure to deal with everything related to financial inclusion products and services.

7. Means of achieving sustainable development in all its aspects.

8. Preparing periodic reports on:
   a. Results of the strategy and the annual action plan. b. Results of financial inclusion activities.
   c. Beneficiaries of financial inclusion products and services and measuring the impact on the bank's performance.

In light of the above, please kindly direct to provide the Central Financial Inclusion Department at the Central Bank with the name of the person designated to communicate with it immediately, until the bank completes the establishment of the aforementioned department, and to determine the name of the person responsible for it, via the email address: Khaled.Bassiouny@eg.org.cbe.

Also, please prepare your bank's financial inclusion strategy by the latest mid-May 2020. Please be kind enough to alert to take the necessary action regarding the above.

Accept our highest regards,

Gamal Naguib