Visa, one of the world’s leading payments networks, recently hosted a special dinner reception for all Egyptian client financial institutions to celebrate achieving five million Visa cards in the Egyptian market and $5 billion in transaction volume.

The event also marked the fifth anniversary of Visa opening an office in Egypt. Key figures from the Egyptian banking community and government officials gathered together to mark this significant milestone in Egypt’s electronic payment industry.

On reaching the “5-5-5” milestone, Rupert Keeley, Visa president Asia-Pacific, CEMEA, said: "This is a significant achievement for the Egyptian market and I would like to thank each of our partners for the role they have played in helping us to meet this landmark occasion."

"Our vision is to provide people, businesses and governments with a better way to pay and get paid and we are committed to extending the convenience, reliability and security of electronic payments here in Egypt."

"We very much look forward to continue working with our Egyptian partners to promote the benefits of electronic payments and develop innovative new products together so that we might celebrate many more milestones in the years to come," he noted.

Increased economic activity and improved economic conditions, coupled with a more efficient banking system, have encouraged banks to approach new fields of investment and expand retail banking services.

This has helped them increase and diversify their portfolios, and to play a stronger role in the economy. As a result, the number of Visa cards in the Egyptian market has increased steadily over the past 5 years; from 1 million cards in Q4 2005 to 5 million cards in Q4 2009.

“Electronic payments are critical to the development of strong, modern economies,” said Tarek Elhousseiny, Visa general manager North and West Africa.

“Visa products can promote transparency and accountability, reduce transaction costs, increase the number of people with access to formal financial services and decrease the size of the gray or informal economy, all of which helps to stimulate economic growth and employment."

"Through increased co-operation with our Egyptian partners, we look forward to bringing more Egyptians into the banking system and providing more people with better access to different types of electronic payments,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service