EGYPT – Amazon Payment Services, a payment processing service in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, has announced that it will be waiving all fees for new businesses wishing to benefit from its services in Egypt.
The move aligns with Amazon Payment Services’ mission to provide businesses with simple, affordable and trusted online payment experiences.
Supporting an initiative launched by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to encourage the transition to digital payments in Egypt, Amazon Payment Services will waive all account setup and maintenance fees for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) for its digital payment service throughout the month of Ramadan until the end of June 2021.
“We are pleased to be supporting the CBE’s drive to help Egyptian businesses digitize and scale online. At a time when many small businesses are facing unprecedented challenges in the face of COVID-19’s restrictions and social distancing measures, the importance of building their online presence has never been greater,” Omar Soudodi, Managing Director of Amazon Payment Services, said.
“Enabling seamless, reliable and affordable digital transactions for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) will help them to boost their revenue streams.”
The initiative is part of CBE’s continued efforts to support the economy during the ongoing pandemic.
“Our ongoing digitalization initiatives have demonstrated huge success recently, as we achieved the highest growth rate in e-commerce & QR code transactions in Egypt Y2020,” Ihab Dorra, Head of Retail & Branchesat Banque Misr.
“Our strategy includes a focus on fintech and we are looking forward to utilizing our partnership with Amazon Payment Services to make facilitating payments even easier and will be offering our merchants some attractive benefits such as no setup fees or monthly fees, and exclusive rates for card and wallet payment.
“This comes in light of the Bank’s strategic vision to facilitate payment transactions for Egyptian citizens and in supporting the state efforts towards financial inclusion.”
Amazon Payment Services implemented the policy in tandem with its partner banks in Egypt, Commercial International Bank (CIB) and Banque Misr, as well as Robusta and zVendo.
“One of the core objectives of CIB’s digital transformation agenda is to expand payment acceptance to cover a wide range of customers in the local market,” Mohamed Noaman, Head of Payment Acceptance at CIB Egypt, said.
“CIB’s Payment Acceptance team was able to enhance its payment solutions through various studies and surveys concentrating on e-commerce development, which we have embedded into our strategic planning.
“We have also followed the various CBE initiatives which have allowed the country’s financial institutions to maintain a high-value proposition while effectively supporting the digital ecosystem.”
Amazon Payment Services processes transactions for thousands of businesses across multiple industries, ranging from aviation to travel and tourism, retail, insurance, real estate, government, and more.
With such a diverse customer base, it has built strong expertise that supports businesses at every scale, from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) looking to establish their online presence to large-scale enterprises requiring a dependable payment service to handle high volumes of transactions safely.
