Egypt Financial Regulatory Authority issues four rules to extend AML controls and expand reporting for microfinance and SME finance providers

The Egypt Financial Regulatory Authority issued four regulatory decisions strengthening supervision of microfinance and small and medium enterprise (SME) finance, including bringing providers into the scope of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls and requiring more granular periodic reporting to the regulator. Decisions 243 and 244 of 2025 apply to microfinance entities, including companies and civil society associations and institutions, while Decisions 245 and 246 of 2025 set reporting requirements for entities financing small and medium projects. The package introduces expanded monthly reporting, including performance and issuance data, geolocation coordinates for financed projects and for head offices and branches, financial solvency indicators, electronic payment transactions, staffing by age band, board and key function information, credit limits granted and compulsory insurance transaction data, alongside quarterly reports on performance, geographic customer distribution and contributions to the Haya Karima initiative, plus an annual follow-up report and a semi-annual customer complaints register. The authority linked the measures to the sector’s digital transformation and noted it had previously cancelled around 518 licences for category (C) associations and civil society institutions following inspections that found inactivity and repeated failures to submit periodic reports and financial statements.