Women-focused financial inclusion events opened about 368,000 bank accounts in Egypt in Q1 2026. They also issued nearly 90,000 prepaid cards and made about 58,000 mobile wallets available, though the figures do not show continued use.
The numbers count services made available, not how many women kept using them. In Egypt, women-focused events opened about 368,000 bank accounts in the first quarter of 2026. Nearly 90,000 prepaid cards were issued during the same period.
About 58,000 mobile wallets were also made available. Central Bank of Egypt figures cover different ways to enter the formal financial system, and each tracks a different service. They do not count unique women: one person may receive more than one product.
Access and continued use
A bank account can provide access to formal banking services.
Prepaid cards and mobile wallets offer other ways to make payments. Their practical value depends on whether customers use them after the events that made them available.
The figures stop short of showing whether accounts remain active or how many transactions customers make. They count accounts opened, cards issued or wallets made available.
Access may help women manage income and savings, depending on individual circumstances. It may also help with spending. Digital payment channels can offer an alternative to cash for some transactions, but the event totals do not measure these potential benefits.
The longer record
From the launch of the financial inclusion events in 2017 through the end of 2025, cumulative results included about 9.8 million bank accounts. The events also made nearly 3 million mobile wallets available. The reported prepaid-card total was about 9.3 million.
In 2025 alone, the events opened about 1.8 million bank accounts and provided 395,000 mobile wallets. They also issued about 1.3 million prepaid cards. These annual and cumulative figures count products, not distinct customers or necessarily active products.
Egypt's CBE launched its 2022-2025 financial inclusion strategy in November 2022. Its broader measure counted access through bank accounts or Egypt Post, as well as through mobile wallets or prepaid cards. By December 2022, 42.3 million Egyptians over age 16, or 64.8% of that population, had access through one or more of these channels. In the first half of 2023, the total reached 44.6 million. The number of women using the listed services rose 5.46% to 19.3 million.
CBE data reported by Ahram Online put the number of women owning transaction accounts at 20.8 million in June 2024, up from 20.3 million in December 2023. The reported increase in women's financial inclusion since 2016 was 252%.
A separate example of Egyptian card use came in a reported card promotion linking a discount to selected Emirates NBD Egypt Mastercard products. That offer covered a specific retail payment; the inclusion figures track the reach of financial services.
What the figures establish
Financial inclusion can give people more organised ways to receive money and make payments. Wider use of electronic payment channels may reduce reliance on cash for some transactions. Account access can also provide a formal route for managing money, but the reported product totals do not quantify these effects.
A fuller assessment would need data on active accounts and continued wallet use. It would also need transaction volumes. The published results do not report active-account counts or transaction volumes.
