Egypt’s FRA mulls licensing companies and intermediaries to act as SME lenders

The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) is studying issuing licenses to allow companies and financial intermediaries to extend loans to SMEs, FRA boss Mohamed Omran told MENA, according to AMAY. The move comes as part of the authority’s 2018-2022 strategy to promote financial inclusion through offering more diversified non-banking financial services. We noted earlier this year that the Central Bank of Egypt is also studying a similar move to issue licenses for new institutions specialized in SME financing.