Egypt’s financial inclusion rate rose to 79% by the end of June 2026, with approximately 56.4 million citizens holding active accounts that enable them to conduct financial transactions, according to Rami Aboul Naga, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE).

Speaking at the PAFIX conference held on Sunday at the Egypt International Exhibition Center, Aboul Naga said the financial inclusion rate among women reached 72.5% by the end of June, while the rate among young people stood at approximately 58%.

The figures represent continued progress from the end of 2025, when Egypt’s financial inclusion rate stood at 77.6%, with around 54.7 million citizens holding active financial accounts out of a total population of 70.5 million people aged 15 and above. At the time, financial inclusion among women stood at 71.4%, while the rate among young people aged 15 to 35 reached 56.8%.

Aboul Naga highlighted the significant expansion of digital financial services across Egypt’s banking sector in recent years. The number of internet banking users reached approximately 24 million, while mobile banking users totaled around 21.2 million. Transactions conducted through these services amounted to EGP 13 trillion during the first half of 2026.

He also revealed that the number of mobile wallets, including Meeza Digital wallets, had reached approximately 67 million by September 2026, with transactions exceeding EGP 4 trillion in value.

Meanwhile, the number of customers registered on Egypt’s Instant Payment Network (IPN) and the InstaPay application surpassed 24 million as of September 2026. These users conducted nearly 2.4 billion transactions worth approximately EGP 7 trillion, Aboul Naga added.

Egypt’s fintech ecosystem has also experienced substantial growth, with the number of fintech companies and related service providers increasing to more than 200 by the end of 2025, compared with approximately 23 companies in 2017. Aboul Naga attributed this expansion in part to the Central Bank’s initiatives to support financial technology and innovation.

As part of its efforts to modernize banking services, the CBE is developing a comprehensive artificial intelligence (AI) strategy and an implementation roadmap for both the central bank and the wider banking sector. The strategy will incorporate requirements related to data governance, cybersecurity, and risk management.

Aboul Naga further disclosed that the CBE is currently testing a behavioral credit scoring project that uses alternative data within its regulatory sandbox. The initiative is being developed in collaboration with the Egyptian Credit Bureau (I-Score) and several banks.

The project aims to introduce more flexible creditworthiness assessment tools and expand access to financing for individuals and businesses with limited or insufficient credit histories.

He added that the CBE’s regulatory sandbox has enabled more than 24 companies to test innovative financial solutions under regulatory supervision, providing a controlled environment for developing and evaluating emerging technologies.

The central bank has also supported the establishment of the Nclude fintech investment fund, which provides financing to promising fintech startups and emerging companies, further strengthening Egypt’s digital financial services ecosystem.