Egypt's central bank has approved regulations for a digital financial identity platform, enabling remote customer verification for banking services.
The announcement is part of the central bank's plans to support digital transformation, encourage financial inclusion, and bring the banking sector's digital infrastructure up to date.
Remote access to banking services
According to central bank governor Hassan Abdalla, the platform will allow more citizens to open bank accounts and access online banking products and services, without having to visit a physical branch. This positions the initiative as a step towards reducing reliance on in-person banking processes, which have traditionally represented a barrier to account ownership in markets where branch access is limited or unevenly distributed.
By enabling remote identification, the platform is intended to lower the operational and logistical hurdles associated with onboarding new customers, a factor the central bank has linked directly to its financial inclusion objectives.
Egypt has in recent years pursued a range of measures aimed at expanding the proportion of its population with access to formal financial services, and digital identity infrastructure is positioned as a primary component of that agenda, supporting broader use of digital banking products. By the end of June 2026, financial inclusion should have reached to 79%, with 56.4 million account owners.
In addition, Egypt announced that the financial inclusion strategy for 2026-2030 is aimed at shifting from extending the gateway to financial accounts to the individuals’ active usage of their digital finance services.
Governance and data protection requirements
The newly approved regulations establish a governance framework that defines the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved in operating and using the platform. Alongside this, the central bank has set out technical requirements, as well as data protection and cybersecurity requirements that participants must meet.
The inclusion of formal governance and security provisions reflects a broader pattern seen across markets introducing digital identity infrastructure, where regulators seek to balance expanded access with safeguards for customer data and system integrity.
