Egyptian banks required to establish in-house financial inclusion departments

Banks are now required to set up departments to oversee financial inclusion strategies and advise the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) own financial inclusion unit, the CBE said on Thursday (pdf). State-owned and private banks, as well as branches of foreign banks, will get those departments to lay down three- to five-year strategies to bring more people to the banking sector, increase outreach, tweak products to meet the needs of unbanked segments of the population (with a focus on women and youth), and increase financial literacy.