The oversight of payment systems is an essential function of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) whose aim is to ensure the smooth functioning of payment systems and to contribute to financial stability. This important responsibility is recognized in the Central Bank of Egypt Law no. 88 0f 2003, the “Law of the Central Bank, the banking sector and money”. The CBE’s task of promoting the smooth operation of payment systems focuses mainly on ensuring safety and efficiency of payment systems and the security of payment instruments.

The payment systems oversight function is necessary because efficient and reliable payment systems increase the effectiveness of monetary policy, contributes to the stability of the financial system by limiting the risk of systemic crises- and ensures the preservation of public confidence in money, money transfer mechanisms and the use of payment instruments.

The Central Bank of Egypt will carry out such function of oversight with the goal of promoting cooperation between participants, adoption of integration standards between systems and ensuring clarity of the individual systems’ operating rules and of roles played by different parties involved with activities instrumental to the delivery of payment services.

As part of this responsibility, it is essential to evaluate the overall efficiency and reliability of each payment instrument, analyze the entire money transfer cycle from originator to beneficiary, analyze the infrastructure of the payment system and enforce security measures.