CBE lets banks hire outside agents to sign up customers beyond their branch networks

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) approved a regulatory framework allowing banks to contract third-party agents to deliver selected services outside their branch networks, aiming to cut branch expansion costs and reach excluded groups and MSMEs, according to a CBE circular (pdf). The contracted agents are limited to a closed list of tasks, including customer identification and e-KYC verification, completing and forwarding loan and account applications, delivering unactivated bank cards, and providing channels for financial literacy campaigns and bank-printed marketing. Meanwhile, they are prohibited from using the word “bank” in their branding.

Who can be a third-party agent? Banks can contract CBE-licensed banking institutions, non-bank financial institutions licensed by the Financial Regulatory Authority, government bodies, Egyptian diplomatic missions abroad, and any other entity with a commercial register and tax card that clears the bank’s due diligence. Each contract needs written CBE approval and runs for up to three years, and the bank remains fully responsible for its agents.

Why it matters: The move comes as Egypt seeks to boost financial inclusion among adults to 80% by FY 2029/30, up from the 76.3% rate recorded in the last fiscal year. Egypt’s financial inclusion rate stood at 79% at the end of June.

A new server line in Sokhna?

MTS Integrated Solutions is in talks with the government to build a USD 100 mn data center manufacturing plant for China’s Inspur, most likely in Ain Sokhna, Chairman Hesham Kandeel told Al Arabiya. MTS will act as Inspur’s local partner, handling engineering, regulatory coordination, and technology transfer for what would be Inspur’s first facility of this scale outside China and the US. Kandeel said the plant will focus on manufacturing hardware for sovereign and state-owned data centers to keep national data domestic, without sharing a timeline or naming the authority responsible for approving the plant.

More China-linked projects on the agenda: MTS aims to expand its cooperation with Chinese partners into digital transformation projects at the Health Ministry and infrastructure works with Mostakbal Misr, with Chinese lenders potentially financing around 60% of project costs, Kandeel said. He also teased an upcoming USD 6 bn data center project, without naming partners or a location, alongside an AI platform under development with China’s UCloud.

REMEMBER- Inspur would be the latest Chinese tech group pursuing a role in Egypt’s government computing infrastructure, after Huawei bid on a government tender in August to supply over 1.4k of its newest Ascend chips to an AI training cloud. It fits into Egypt’s broader plan to host sensitive government data locally, with officials aiming to finalize a national data center strategy by the end of 2026.

Gaining traction

Another Chinese tire maker is heading to Ain Sokhna: Chinese tire manufacturer Jiangsu General Science Technology plans to invest up to USD 295 mn in a plant in Sokhna Industrial Zone, according to a Shanghai Stock Exchange filing (pdf). The plant will produce 6 mn semi-steel passenger car tires and 800k all-steel truck and bus tires a year. Slated for completion over 36 months, the plant will be financed through a mix of the company’s own funds and bank loans and will supply North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Chinese and Egyptian regulatory approvals are still pending.

The breakdown: The project will run through a new Egyptian subsidiary, provisionally named General Rubber (Egypt), with USD 80 mn in provisional capital. The parent will hold 99.5% and a wholly owned subsidiary 0.5%.

IN CONTEXT- Jiangsu General is at least the sixth Chinese tiremaker to commit to Egypt since August 2025 and the fourth at Sokhna, after Sailun’s USD 1 bn Sokhna plant, Chaoyang Longmarch’s USD 190 mn factory, and ZC Rubber’s USD 500 mn letter of intent. Two others are planning plants in Alexandria governorate: Aeolus Tyre filed for a CNY 2.68 bn truck-tire plant in May, and Linglong is weighing a USD 2 bn Borg El Arab complex. Zenith Steel is also investing USD 300 mn in a Sokhna plant for the steel cord and bead wire used by tire plants.

More under our radar:

• The Local Development and Environment Ministry has stopped accepting paper applications and launched IDEIA, a nationwide 11-step platform for submitting studies, tracking applications, and paying fees electronically to streamline investor procedures. (Cabinet statement)
• Tawasoa Factoring signed a EGP 30 mn loan agreement with the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Development Agency to finance new and existing SMEs nationwide through factoring. The 18-month loan, counted from the first tranche, will be repaid from collections on Tawasoa’s factoring contracts with clients. (EGX disclosure, pdf)

A lifeline for distressed factories

Gov’t wants investors to take over distressed factories. The Industry Ministry is in talks with investors to acquire some 30 distressed factories as part of a push to restart idle capacity and attract new industrial investment, Industry Minister Khaled Hashem told the House Industry Committee. The ministry is assessing 51 factories for restructuring.

There’s a sweetener for buyers: Investors who acquire the plants can tap working capital financing at a reduced rate once the acquisitions close to help restart production faster. The ministry is matching owners looking to exit with potential buyers and offering technical and commercial support. Around 90 distressed factories have registered on the government’s unified digital platform for manufacturers.

Why it matters: Reviving plants that already have equipment and infrastructure brings unused capacity back online, increases local supply, and protects jobs while avoiding the cost of building new factories from scratch.

ICYMI- The Central Bank of Egypt and the Industry Ministry launched the EGP 1 bn Distressed Factories Restructuring Fund last month to target industrial firms with viable operations that have hit financial or operational trouble. Assistant to the Industry Minister Emad Abdel Hamid told us last December that the fund would take equity and work alongside management rather than lending.