Capiter and QNB Al Ahli sign a new partnership to facilitate B2B financing and e-payments for merchants

In line with the continuous efforts of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) to enable access to financial products and services to all society segments, Capiter, the leading e-commerce platform, has signed a partnership agreement with QNB Al Ahli to launch integrated banking solutions aiming to facilitate electronic payment and collection services for its merchants. The partnership aligns with CBE’s strategy to support digital transformation, realize financial inclusion, and enhance Egypt’s position as a regional hub for fintech. Around 65,000 merchants on Capiter’s platform will have access to B2B financing facilities to buy commodities and electronically collect their dues that will help them grow their businesses and increase their profitability.
The partnership was signed by Mohamed Bedeir, CEO of QNB Al Ahli, and Mahmoud Nouh, Co-founder and CEO of Capiter in the presence of CBE officials headed by Dr. Rasha Negm, Assistant Sub-Governor and the Head of FinTech and Innovation.
In line with CBE’s strategy that aims to promote Egypt’s FinTech ecosystem and encourage cooperation and partnerships between banks and FinTech startups, CBE’s FinTech and Innovation unit played a vital role to conclude the partnership between Capiter and QNB Al Ahli. This step aligns with the CBE’s FinTech strategy, announced in March 2019, which focuses on supporting startups specialized in FinTech, such as Capiter, to speed up its services and identify the best cooperation model with banks such as QNB Al Ahli. The cooperation protocol between Capiter and QNB Al Ahli was designed to empower small and micro enterprises through facilitating financing to merchants and providing them with integrated banking solutions to enable electronic payment and collection services through POS machines and QR codes.
For its part, QNB Al Ahli puts SMEs and micro-projects financing, financial inclusion and e-payments as a top priority in an endeavor to achieve a competitive modern economic ecosystem, upgrade and digitalize domestic trade, and promote e-payment, financial inclusion and e-commerce.
With this agreement, Capiter becomes one of the first leading Egyptian companies that enables merchants to have access to financing facilities, digitalize commodity purchases, and collect their dues electronically in an effort to help them increase their capital through the platform. This partnership comes as a part of CBE’s goals to support SMEs, contribute to their expansion plans and achieve growth that ultimately serves the national economy. At the same time, SMEs will be able to collect their dues electronically using POS machines and QR codes, which ensures fast and smooth financial transactions and mitigate the risk of cash collection and transfer.
The new partnership, which aligns with Egypt’s Vision 2030, would provide several financing packages and banking products specially tailored to help merchants increase their transactions with competitive prices with smooth procedures. Capiter merchants will also get a dual-branded bankcard to facilitate payments, acquiring financing and purchases through the application. In this regard, Capiter becomes one of the first Egyptian companies that eye expanding information technology access to merchants all over Egypt.
“The Central Bank of Egypt is fully supporting the transformation and innovation of banking services. CBE launches initiatives that aim to support startups operating in the FinTech field, incubate ideas and come up with innovative solutions through identifying mutual cooperation framework between all relevant stakeholders and finalizing more partnerships between the startups and the banking sector,” said Eng. Ayman Hussein, Sub Governor, Business Technology Sector at Central Bank of Egypt. “Such partnerships would positively enhance the fundamental role FinTech plays as one of the digital transformation tools thus availing digital banking services to wider segments of citizens and achieving higher levels of financial inclusion,” he added.
“This partnership is an example for the implementation of a key cornerstone of CBE’s strategy of FinTech and innovation. The strategy is based on a number of key pillars that include studying the requirements of the local FinTech market and facilitating the cooperation between all stakeholders within the FinTech ecosystem,” said Dr. Rasha Negm, Assistant Sub-Governor and the Head of FinTech and Innovation. “CBE pays immense attention to supporting FinTech entrepreneurs and studies the challenges facing them in the current period which greatly enhances the FinTech industry and boosts customers’ dependence on banking services offered through FinTech, and strengthens Egypt’s position as a regional hub for FinTech,” she concluded.
For his part, Mohamed Bedeir, CEO of QNB Al Ahli said, “we value this partnership with Capiter as a promising company that offers its services to merchants through its platform and serves SMEs that contribute to the development of e-commerce. We pride ourselves on being the first bank in the Egyptian banking sector to provide B2B programs aiming to achieve a more competitive and modern economic ecosystem. The partnership between QNB Al Ahli and Capiter aligns with CBE’s initiatives that aim to strengthen financial inclusion and digital transformation culture. At QNB Al Ahli, we are always keen on forging partnerships that contribute to the overall development of this ecosystem.” He reiterated the importance of the cutting-edge updates of the digital services at the bank to keep up with the latest trends in the banking sector. “This is a testament to the bank’s strategy and its role to support the digital ecosystem while offering the highest levels of safety and convenience in everyday transactions making us a market leader and the first choice for our individual and business clients,” he concluded.
QNB Al Ahli encourages and supports all partnerships within the ecosystem as one of the first banks to launch innovative banking solutions that meet the needs of customers whether individuals or companies, facilitate banking transactions without visiting the branches, and introduce
Mahmoud Nouh, Co-Founder and CEO of Capiter, commented on the partnership saying “At Capiter, we are always keen on facilitating commerce and providing the needed financing to merchants on the platform to help them grow their businesses. Through our network that includes more than 65,000 merchants across 10 Egyptian governorates, we aim to join forces with local banks and financial institutions to provide high-quality services that exceed our clients’ expectations. We are proud of our partnership with QNB Al Ahli as one of the leading banks in Egypt in terms of offering diverse and innovative banking solutions especially commercial chains and automation in addition to the vast network of branches that will enable us to reach more merchants. He elaborated, “I would like to thank CBE for its efforts to support innovative ideas and startups to support all sectors of the national economy, supporting micro-projects and entrepreneurs by speeding up the licensing projects and encouraging them to execute their projects to boost their competitiveness in the market.”
Capiter is a leading B2 e-commerce platform that has succeeded within two years of its launch to introduce a new concept in the local retail sector by forming a touchpoint between manufacturers and retailers across various sectors.