FinTech for the Poor: The Case of Egypt

Abstract What mechanism can be implemented to alleviate poverty in Egypt? Following the World Bank’s recommendations, Egypt has been advancing financial technology (‘FinTech’) instruments as part of a financial inclusion strategy to improve the living-standards of its low-income population. In 2022, it enacted a FinTech law to regulate an expanding non-banking financial market that built on an Egyptian landscape of a tech-savvy population and a reliable internet infrastructure. However, an exposition of Egypt’s recent legal history uncovers the challenges ahead of FinTech law in realizing financial inclusion. FinTech prosperity is dependent upon state support rather than a sustainable market economy, FinTech law is too stringent to promote basic FinTech instruments, and the cost and quality of FinTech services do little to mitigate against the cash culture habits of low-income Egyptians. It is necessary to address these problems if FinTech is to remain true to its cause.