Standards/meeza-qr
Meeza QR
Overview
Meeza is Egypt's national card-payment scheme, established by Presidential Decree No. 89/2017 to support a cashless society in Egypt — operated by the Egyptian Banks Company (EBC) under Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) authority [1, 2, 3, [eg-cro]]. Meeza launched formally in 2017 as Egypt's domestic-card-payment scheme — equivalent to Saudi Arabia's mada, India's RuPay, Bangladesh's TakaPay, Russia's MIR, and Pakistan's PayPak. By 2023, over 17 million Meeza cards had been issued by 28 participating banks, with current reporting suggesting 35+ million cardholders in Egypt. CBE planned 16,000+ quick payment service (QR code) acceptance points during the rollout phase.
The structural significance: Meeza is the Egyptian leg of the regional MENA national-card-scheme trend — alongside mada SA, BENEFIT BH, KNET KW, UAE Switch. Meeza cards include prepaid + debit forms, accepted at Egyptian POS + ATMs + online merchants, with QR-code acceptance as a growing channel. Egypt's broader payment ecosystem (fawry-qr platform, instapay consumer app on CBE's IPN rail) integrates with Meeza as the domestic card layer for non-Visa/Mastercard transactions. Meeza is also the structural counterpart to Egypt's broader financial-inclusion drive — supporting CBE's National Payment Council mission to reduce cash-outside-the-banking-sector and promote digital alternatives.
History
2017 — Presidential Decree No. 89/2017 [3]:
- Establishes National Payments Council to coordinate cashless-society efforts.
- Mandates EBC to develop + operate Meeza as the national payment-card scheme.
Early Meeza rollout (2017-2019) [2]:
- EBC develops the scheme infrastructure.
- Major Egyptian banks begin issuance.
End of 2019 — 4 million cards [3]:
- Initial scale-up phase.
July 2020 — National Bank of Egypt 2M+ Meeza users [3]:
- NBE alone reaches 2M Meeza customers.
2023 — 17M+ cards by 28 banks [3]:
- Substantial scale; majority of Egyptian banks participating.
Current — 35M+ cardholders [3]:
- Continued growth.
QR-code acceptance [3]:
- CBE plans 16,000+ QR-code acceptance points.
- Integration with fawry-qr POS network (60K+ POS).
Technical specification
Meeza is Egypt's EBC-operated national card-payment scheme with QR acceptance [1, 2, 3]:
| Layer | Description |
|---|---|
| Operator | Egyptian Banks Company (EBC) |
| Regulator | Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) + National Payments Council |
| Establishment | Presidential Decree No. 89/2017 |
| Card types | Debit, prepaid |
| Acceptance | Egyptian POS + ATM + online + QR-code |
| Currency | EGP (Egyptian pound) |
| Cards issued (2023) | 17M+ by 28 banks |
| Cards currently | 35M+ cardholders |
| QR acceptance target | 16,000+ points |
Co-branding context EG:
- Most Egyptian banks issue Visa/Mastercard cards alongside Meeza.
- Meeza routes domestically; Visa/Mastercard route internationally — similar combo to dankort DK or mada SA.
Cashless ecosystem context EG:
Use cases
Domestic Egyptian card payments [2]: POS + ATM + online.
Government bill payment [2]: Meeza accepted for government fees, utilities.
Financial-inclusion target (unbanked Egyptians) [3]: Prepaid Meeza cards extend digital-payment access to previously-unbanked.
QR-code acceptance (growing) [3]: 16,000+ targeted QR-code acceptance points.
E-commerce [2]: Meeza accepted for Egyptian online merchants.
Salary cards (prepaid) [2]: Many Egyptian employers issue prepaid Meeza cards to unbanked employees for salary payment.
Implementations & ecosystem
Operator: Egyptian Banks Company (EBC).
Regulator: CBE + National Payments Council.
28 participating banks including:
- NBE (National Bank of Egypt, largest issuer).
- Banque Misr.
- CIB.
- QNB Alahli.
- HSBC Egypt.
Companion infrastructure:
Fun facts
- Presidential Decree-mandated: Meeza is unusual among national card schemes for being explicitly mandated by presidential decree (No. 89/2017) — most peer schemes are central-bank-coordinated voluntary initiatives.
- Egypt's National Payments Council: Established alongside Meeza to coordinate broader cashless-society push — institutional infrastructure beyond just the card scheme.
- 17M cards in 6 years, 35M+ now: Substantial growth — comparable trajectory to mada SA, RuPay IN.
- 28 issuing banks: Most major Egyptian banks participating.
- Prepaid + debit + (likely) credit: Tiered card types serving different segments.
- Financial-inclusion centrepiece: Many Meeza cards are prepaid for unbanked Egyptians, particularly salary-disbursement cards.
- Integrates with fawry-qr POS network: 60K+ POS from Fawry + Meeza acceptance = comprehensive Egyptian domestic-card ecosystem.
Comparison
| Feature | Meeza (EG) | mada (SA) | RuPay (IN) | TakaPay (BD) | dankort (DK) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | EBC (CBE) | Saudi Payments (SAMA) | NPCI (RBI) | Bangladesh Bank | Nets (private) |
| Launch | 2017 (decree) / 2019 (scale) | 1990 (rebrand 2015) | 2012 | Jun 2024 | Sep 1983 |
| Cards in circulation | 35M+ | Universal | Major | Growing | ~5M |
| Co-branding | Visa/MC combo | Visa/MC combo | Visa/MC combo | Visa/MC combo | Visa/Dankort combo |
| Mandate origin | Presidential Decree 89/2017 | Royal Decree | NPCI | CBE | Bank consortium agreement |
Status
Active, dominant Egyptian domestic card [2, 3]:
- EBC operator, CBE-supervised.
- 35M+ cardholders.
- 28 participating banks.
- QR acceptance growing.
- Companion to instapay + fawry-qr + IPN.
Sources
- 1 Meeza — official
- 2 Meeza Card — EBC
- 3 Meeza — Wikipedia
- [eg-cro]
reports/countries/EG-egypt.md
Deployments
Found in the following country reports (grep across reports/countries/):
- EG — EG-egypt.md