Italy-based SIA-SSB has won a tender to establish a new interbank payment system for the Egyptian market in a deal worth EUR2 million.
The vendor, borne out of the merger between Società Interbancaria per l'Automazione and Società per i Servizi Bancari, was awarded the contract to deliver a Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system for high value payments between over 40 banks by the Central Bank of Egypt.
The network will be handling an average daily volume of over 10,000 payments worth 25 billion Egyptian pounds (EUR3.25 billion), equal to 4.6% of Egypt's GDP.
The project is part of the Financial and Investment Co-operation Sector Programme, funded by the European Union to the tune of EUR15 million which provides support to the Egyptian financial services market to bring it in line with international best practice.
The deal represents SIA-SSB's first contract in Mediterranean Europe following two previous implementations of the RTGS system in Sweden and Norway.