ATM fees are back — and there’s a cap on how much you can withdraw: The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has lifted its covid-era waiver on inter-bank ATM withdrawal fees as of 1 July, according to a circular (pdf) published on its website last week. Fees on ATM withdrawals from a bank that is not your own are capped at EGP 5, while the maximum amount that can be withdrawn in one go has been set at EGP 4k.

Other banking fee waivers are here for a while longer: The central bank has directed banks to extend until the end of the year fee exemptions on inter-bank EGP transfers, e-payments, and new contactless cards and mobile wallets.

SMART POLICY- The CBE set a new pricing policy for mobile wallet transfers: The policy exempts users from paying transfer fees for the first transaction they make each month, and places caps on fees for the remainder of transactions:

• Transfers between mobile wallets under the same service provider are capped at EGP 1;
• Transfers between wallets with different service providers are subject to a 0.5% fee capped at EGP 10.

A boost to the private sector + SMEs: Businesses will be exempt from all fees associated with using contactless payment tools issued by local banks. SMEs will also be exempt from fees for e-payment collections.

BACKGROUND- The fee waivers were introduced during the first wave of the pandemic in March 2020 and have been periodically extended ever since, most recently at the end of 2021.