The Central Bank of Egypt has decided to increase the amount of money that can be withdrawn through payment service providers.

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The regulator has changed the daily and monthly limits on withdrawals through the applications of payment service providers following its rules for participation in instant payment networks. The maximum daily transaction limit from March 15 will be increased from 60,000 Egyptian pounds to 120,000 Egyptian pounds (about $4,000). The maximum monthly limit will be increased from the same date from 200,000 to 400,000 Egyptian pounds (about 13,000 US dollars).

These changes are taking place during a period that many experts, including Rusiru Gunasena, Senior vice president for RTP product Development and strategy at the clearing house, call the period of accelerated movement of the payment industry towards real-time transactions. In the context of a global downturn in economic growth and a systematic increase in interest rates, businesses and consumers need quick access to funds.

Rusiru Gunasena admits a complete transition of the industry to real-time payments. He justifies this assumption by the fact that bank clients and members of credit unions, both from the business side and the customers, are demanding more and more products and services.

The process of partial transition to real-time payments has already begun. For example, in the United States, 52% of retailers have either implemented transactions of this type or plan to do so within the next three years. In the UK, this figure is 56%.

Basanti Singh, Head of Merchant payments at ACI Worldwide, said that the advantage of real-time payments for the consumer is that he has access to a variety of transaction options, the range of which is constantly increasing. He also noted that the financial operations of the new generation, compared with standard mechanisms, are more in line with the modern lifestyle.

As we have reported earlier, Mastercard & Copal to Launch Family Payments App in Egypt.