Egypt Post eyes new clients with sharia-compliant products

Egypt Post plans to launch sharia-compliant products, including a new savings plan, to attract more customers and increase revenues, Ashraf Gamal El Din, chairman of the board of directors of the Egyptian National Post Authority, told Zawya.

 He said the Authority had set up a sharia board comprising five members of Egypt’s highest religious authority, Dar al-Iftaa, to ensure the new products are sharia-compliant and to select a financial advisor to assess the feasibility of new products.

“The Authority has issued a tender to select a financial advisor specialized in Islamic finance to put in place regulations for the new products and ensure that they comply with sharia law,” El Din said, adding that five firms have already submitted technical bids which would be reviewed by the Authority by the end of this month while financial proposals would be reviewed by the end of July.

The chairman said one of the products to be launched would be a sharia-compliant savings passbook. He said the total value of postal savings passbooks currently stands at EGP 129 million (USD 18 million) and was expected to rise to around EGP 2 billion after the introduction of new savings plan.

“We are considering targeting two segments of clients. The new savings passbook will target clients who are looking for quick returns, and other sharia-compliant instruments will cater to big investors who are looking for long-term investments,” he said.

Egypt Post currently has 22.5 million clients who hold savings passbooks, in addition to 13.5 million customers who hold family cards and five million clients who hold pension cards, according to the chairman.

El Din said the Egypt Post would start offering e-payment services in the coming weeks, including for electricity and water bills, at 3,826 post offices or at 7,000 ATMs. The chairman said the Authority expected the number of clients utilizing this service to reach 2 million in the first two months after the launch.

Originally published on www.zawya.com