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Article

OPay applies for a digital banking licence in Egypt as it seeks to expand its services beyond payments.

Business Tech Africa Sep 2, 2026
Read the original Article page

TL;DR

OPay has submitted an application to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to establish a digital bank, which is currently under regulatory review.

Egypt currently represents a small fraction of OPay's business, accounting for 1.6% of its 2025 revenue compared to Nigeria's dominant 88.1%.

Intelligence

The move comes as Egypt builds out its digital financial infrastructure, following the CBE's 2023 digital banking regulations and the licensing of its first digital bank, onebank, in March 2026.

OPay's digital bank application signals a broader strategy by dominant West African fintechs to diversify their geographic risk away from Nigeria by entering North Africa's rapidly formalising digital economy.

If approved, OPay will face stiff competition in Egypt from established local giants like CIB's upcoming yomo digital bank, which is backed by a planned $300 million investment.

Success will depend on OPay's ability to replicate its high-volume micro-lending and payment playbook under Egypt's newly regulated Digital Financial Identity framework.

Funding extracted from this article

1
yomo Unknown · $300 million

Regulatory activity extracted

3
Central Bank of Egypt Licence granted
Central Bank of Egypt Approval granted
Central Bank of Egypt Policy change

Tenders extracted

0

No tenders were extracted from this article.

Further reading

More on the companies named in this article.

Companies named

6

People named

0

No people were extracted from this article.

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Other recorded activity involving the same companies.