Egypt’s Central Bank has tightened controls governing banks’ dealings with non-bank financing companies, in a move aimed at strengthening credit-market transparency as consumer finance and other non-bank lending activities expand rapidly across the country.
According to a Central Bank directive reported by Asharq Business, banks are now required to verify that non-bank financing companies hold identification numbers registered with both the Central Bank of Egypt and the Egyptian credit bureau, I-Score. The measure is intended to ensure that financing companies appear as recognized lenders in customers’ consolidated credit records.
The directive also requires banks to obtain formal commitments from financing companies to disclose customer data periodically through I-Score and update credit information regularly. Banks must also conduct direct checks on samples of customers to verify that their financing data appears correctly in the credit database.
The move comes amid rapid growth in Egypt’s non-bank financial sector. The State Information Service, citing the Financial Regulatory Authority, reported that non-bank finance portfolios reached about EGP 417 billion by the end of 2025, with more than 9.8 million financing contracts and default rates below 3%.
The Financial Regulatory Authority also said the sector serves more than 64 million clients through 2,532 supervised entities, while total financing granted by non-bank financial institutions exceeded EGP 1.4 trillion by the end of 2025.
The new rules follow growing debate over credit-risk standards in the fast-expanding sector, particularly as consumer finance, microfinance, SME finance and installment-based lending become increasingly important to household and private-sector activity.
I-Score acts as Egypt’s main credit-information platform, collecting data on loans, credit facilities, repayment history, outstanding balances and late-payment records. Its reports and credit scores are used by banks and finance companies when assessing credit applications, although final lending decisions remain the responsibility of the credit provider under applicable regulatory rules.
The Central Bank’s latest move therefore appears designed to close information gaps between banks and non-bank lenders, reduce the risk of excessive borrower exposure, and improve oversight of credit quality across Egypt’s wider financial system.
