Egypt Eyes Surge in Fintech Investment After New Laws

New legislation and regulatory changes in Egypt are set to unleash a surge in new fintech investments and change the way the country’s largely unbanked citizens do business, industry players say. 

One innovator is MNT NV, a microfinance lending and payments company with more than a million active customers and a 21.7 percent market share. It has just completed a share swap to take over fintech company Halan Inc, Mounir Nakhla, a cofounder of both firms, told Reuters. The deal had not previously been reported.

MNT-Halan is Egypt’s first private non-bank company to be licensed by the central bank to operate a digital wallet, a mobile telephone application that allows consumers, vendors, lenders and borrowers to transfer money, pay bills, buy goods on instalment, secure loans and make other transactions.