EGYPT – Mastercard, a multinational financial services corporation, has announced a partnership with Carticard, egabi FSI’s strategic partner, to offer Carticard customers improved digital payment solutions while incorporating more people into the digital economy.

The new partnership will enable Carticard to directly distribute loans through Mastercard prepaid cards. The partnership will enable smoother digital transactions and help users to minimize the use of cash by providing them with access to safe, fast and convenient card payments.

The collaboration will see Carticard expand its cardholders’ network to 400,000 and support egabi FSI in expanding its microloans platform to reach its goal of 8 million consumers by 2022.

The collaboration builds on Carticard’s existing offering which sees them issue and manage cards to other microfinance institutions, consumer finance companies, consumers, merchants, and freelancers in cooperation with banks.

“Earlier this year, Mastercard made a commitment to connect 1 billion people worldwide to the digital economy by 2025 and scaling up engagements with fintechs like Carticard will help us reach this goal as we strive to build a brighter and more inclusive future.”

Mohamed Assem – Country Manager,Mastercard Egypt

“We are delighted to announce our partnership with Carticard as we expand our efforts to drive financial inclusion in Egypt and enable more people to enjoy the benefits of the digital economy,” said Mohamed Assem, Country Manager, Egypt, Mastercard.

“Earlier this year, Mastercard made a commitment to connect 1 billion people worldwide to the digital economy by 2025 and scaling up engagements with fintechs like Carticard will help us reach this goal as we strive to build a brighter and more inclusive future.”

All Carticard’s offerings are certified and available on egabi FSI’s platforms, a leading fintech in enterprise solutions and services including mobility, big data, cloud services. The company also offers a microloans platform to microfinance institutions in the Middle East and Africa region, and is currently serving 2 million consumers.

“We are pleased to partner with Mastercard to digitize the payment process for nano, micro, and small financing cycles,” said Ahmed Sameh, Managing Director of Carticard.

“Our collaboration will contribute to the financial inclusion journey by facilitating digital cash disbursements and collection with the support of Mastercard’s smart and reliable processing system. We have started the program in Egypt and have plans to expand to other countries and regions soon.”

The COVID-19 pandemic and the measures put in place by the Egyptian government to curb the spread of the virus have already led to an 80% increase in e-commerce transactions in the local market, bringing the country one step closer to a fully integrated digital economy.

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