Basata Holding, a leading Egyptian e-payment services company, announced plans to introduce new services in 2024 to promote financial inclusion and support Egypt’s vision of accelerating digital transformation.
The company aims to introduce several services that are set to revolutionize the financial payments sector and enhance its strategic plan to expand its customer base and achieve financial inclusion. These services will encompass the latest payment methods, including self-service e-payment machines in public places, enabling seamless and secure cash deposits and withdrawals from e-wallets, bill payments, money transfers, as well as diverse payment options, accommodating customers using credit and debit cards.
Additionally, Basata intends to offer Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services for its Point of Sale (POS) systems, introducing more payment options for customers, further plans to provide prepaid cards, and payroll services for employees, and facilitate the purchase of railway tickets.
Karim Shehata, CEO of Basata Holding, said: “We are witnessing significant growth in Egypt, which marks it as a promising market for the fintech industry. This is evident in the efforts of the Egyptian Central Bank to facilitate the transition to the digital economy, adopt a policy toward a less-cash society, and achieve financial inclusion. This enabled us at Basata to grow our customer base to more than 40 million users and activated e-wallets within a short span of time.
Osman Badran, Marketing Director at Basata Holding, remarked, “At Basata, we strive to deliver a seamless, secure, and convenient financial experience. We foster the relationship between service providers, merchants, and customers through an extensive and secure network, spanning over 160,000 points of sale that accept all credit cards and facilitate all cash transactions.
In 2023, Basata achieved remarkable results by expanding its scope of services offered to customers and merchants to more than 3,200 services, including utility bill payments, government financial services, education, telecommunications, and insurance payments, among others. This expansion covers a network that spans all Egyptian governorates comprising over 160,000 points of sale (POS), and transactions worth EGP 75 billion.
To further support financial inclusion, Egypt’s Central Bank reported a 5.4 percent increase in the country’s financial inclusion rate to 67.3 percent during the first half of 2023.
The number of Egyptians aged 16 and above with accounts in banks, Egypt Post, mobile phone wallets, or prepaid cards rose to 44.6 million by June 2023.
These developments align with studies indicating that digital payments in Egypt are predicted to reach $21.7 billion, accounting for 14.3 percent of the total volume, by 2027.
