Egypt’s FRA Unveils Sweeping Digital Overhaul for Non-Banking Financial Sector

Editorial Team

Last updated 17-11-2025

4 min

Dr Mohamed Farid unveiled a long-awaited digital roadmap for Egypt’s non-banking financial sector.

Partnerships with eFinance and eTax aim to develop e-payment systems and AI fraud detection tools.

The FRA is shifting towards being an enabling authority, leveraging electronic contracts and e-KYC.

A comprehensive e-payment platform will facilitate instant regulatory fee settlements and fraud verification.

Technology is the "magic common denominator," streamlining regulation and reducing human error across sectors.

Cairo ICT 2025 turned into quite the stage this week as Dr Mohamed Farid, Chairman of Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority, laid out a digital roadmap that felt, well… a long time coming. Listening to how the country’s non‑banking financial sector is being reshaped, I couldn’t help thinking back to a chat I once had with a young founder at an Arageek event who joked that paying regulatory fees in Egypt was “a bit of a faff.” If all goes as planned, those days might finally be numbered.

During a session moderated by Ibrahim Sarhan from eFinance Investment Group, Dr Farid outlined partnerships with both eFinance and eTax to build unified e‑payment systems, AI‑powered fraud detection tools and a data backbone meant to turn what he called “raw information” into real economic value. He didn’t mince words either, saying technology is no longer a luxury but a lifeline for market stability. And to be fair, I reckon he’s spot on.

What caught my attention was how openly he spoke about the FRA’s shift in identity. Instead of the old-school regulator that clamps down for stability’s sake, he described a “conceptual revolution” towards an enabling authority—one that embraces tools like electronic contracts and e‑KYC. That shift is already visible in new products such as fractional ownership schemes and gold investment funds, where the tech does the heavy lifting to protect consumers without slowing everything down.

On the exhibition floor, Dr Farid toured the eFinance pavilion to check out the latest digital platforms. Company leaders walked him through solutions designed to streamline everything from payments to backend infrastructure. Off the back of that, he confirmed plans for a comprehensive e‑payment platform covering all FRA services. Each supervised company will eventually get a dedicated digital profile so it can settle regulatory fees instantly—no more paper shuffling. And on the flip side, an upcoming initiative with eTax will let factoring companies verify invoices instantly, a move that should tighten the net around fraud.

Fraud, especially in health and insurance sectors, was a recurring theme. Dr Farid warned that delays caused by fraudulent practices directly harm citizens, adding that anyone who thinks they’ve mastered technology is “mistaken” because yesterday’s tools are already outdated. It sounded dramatic, but believe it or not, the speed of change really does justify his tone.

He also reflected on the challenge of unifying 14 different sectors regulated under 14 different laws. Technology, he said, became the “magic common denominator,” enabling e‑KYC through national ID and mobile numbers—dramatically cutting human error. Seventeen companies now use this system, backed by six licensed outsourcing providers. And thanks to Law No. 5 of 2022, electronic contracts now hold full, court‑recognised validity, which is a huge shift for a market where paperwork used to dominate everything.

AI and unified databases are already reshaping oversight. According to Dr Farid, market activity has multiplied several times since 2023, and he wants the insurance sector to quadruple—or even quintuple—in the coming years. Digitisation paved the way for electronic insurance policies, fresh fintech licences and Egypt’s first digital fractional real estate ownership platform. After new regulations landed, the FRA received 25 applications for real estate investment funds, compared to just two previously. Not bad at all.

Today, 25 out of 79 non‑banking financial companies operate fully digitally, while another 54 meet digital compliance standards. Six outsourcing firms are authorised to support these processes. The digital adoption rates are quite varied—6% in insurance, 29% in financing and 65% across capital markets—which shows there’s still plenty of room to grow, or as my colleague once put it, “the engine’s running but the wheels aren’t all spinning yet”.

Towards the end, Dr Farid opened up about leadership, saying that public service requires sacrificing parts of one’s family and social life—something he framed as a moral responsibility. “Markets cannot tolerate shallow decisions,” he reminded the audience, emphasising the need for deep academic understanding before any policy move. I’m not a fan of overly philosophical answers, but his point landed.

In wrapping up, he summed up the FRA’s direction with four priorities: ambitious ideas before capital, enabling regulation before rigid oversight, digitisation before paperwork, and innovation before procedure. It was a tidy message, maybe too tidy, but definately aligned with the broader shift we keep seeing across the region.

If even half of these plans stick, Egypt’s financial landscape could look very different in a few years—faster, cleaner and a lot less reliant on pens, stamps and long queues. And honestly, that’s something many startups I’ve met would be chuffed to bits about.

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