National Bank of Egypt planning 20 digital-only banks by 2020

National Bank of Egypt, the country’s largest bank by assets, is planning to create around 20 standalone digital banks by 2020, after obtaining necessary approvals from the central bank.

The bank will start launching five digital branches in Greater Cairo area by next January, a senior source in the NBE told Amwal Al Ghad on Thursday.

Egyptian central bank sub governor Ayman Hussein said earlier this week at Arab Digital Economy Conference in Abu Dhabi that four Egyptian banks were applying for digital banking licence, without disclosing their names.

According to the Temenos report, Digital Banking, “A digital bank offers customers contextualized, seamless experiences that transform the customer journey. And becoming a digital bank means delivering a compelling and relevant customer experience through an open, integrated and flexible architecture.”

Banks worldwide had been following physical branch network (brick and mortar) method for increasing customer base and branch network. This method involves more expenses by way of rent, maintenance expenses electricity charges, etc. Even after much progress in digital banking, cost to income ratio of many of the banks are in the range of 45-55 percent.

Digital banking offers increasingly tech-savvy consumers quick and easy digital money management tools, cut-price fees and a marketplace where users can shop around for products from various providers.