Egypt’s Central Bank (CBE) has strengthened its oversight of inbound remittance flows significantly since 2023, with new IPN (Instant Payment Network) licensing requirements, enhanced AML obligations, and stricter beneficiary verification rules.
What changed in 2024–25
The CBE published updated guidelines requiring all non-bank payment service providers handling EGP settlement to operate through a licensed IPN. This means that any MTO or fintech routing payments directly to Egyptian bank accounts must use a CBE-licensed intermediary.
Key requirements include:
- Named beneficiary validation — Arabic name formatting must match national ID records
- Real-time AML screening — every transaction must be screened against the CBE sanctions list before settlement
- Audit trail — full transaction logs must be retained for 7 years and available for regulator inspection
How Balad handles this
Balad’s infrastructure is built on top of licensed IPN partnerships, meaning our API clients inherit full CBE compliance without needing their own CBE relationship.
When you send a payment via the Balad API, we handle:
- IPN routing to a licensed Egyptian settlement partner
- Arabic name formatting and national ID validation
- Real-time AML and sanctions screening
- Webhook delivery of status updates (including CBE rejection reasons)
What you need on your side
As the originating platform, you remain responsible for:
- KYC/KYB on your senders in the originating jurisdiction
- OFAC/EU sanctions screening on the sending side
- Providing accurate beneficiary information (full name, NID or account number)
Balad’s sandbox environment lets you test all edge cases — including CBE rejection scenarios — before going live.
