Identity verification in Egypt
Egypt is the Arab world's largest consumer market (~110 million) and one of MENA's most active fintech laboratories. The compliance stack: the Egyptian National ID Card (biṭāqat al-raqm al-qawmī) issued by the Ministry of Interior's Civil Status Department; Law 80/2002 (AML) supervised by the EMLCU; Law 194/2020 (Central Bank and Banking Sector Law) with its Article 206 crypto ban; the 2023 CBE Di
Documents supported
(Government IDs from 220+ countries)
Average verification time
Countries covered
(Government-issued IDs validated)
Market overview
Egypt is the Arab world's most populous country (~110 million) and Africa's second-largest economy by nominal GDP. Financial inclusion has historically been low, but the CBE's 2019–2025 Financial Inclusion Strategy, the rollout of the Meeza domestic payment scheme, and the CBE-operated Instant Payment Network (IPN) launched in March 2022 have widened the formal customer base to more than 40 million mobile wallet users and 30 million+ Meeza cards. The fintech sector is the fastest-growing segment of the economy. Fawry — the largest digital payment network — reports ~53 million customers and ~9 million daily transactions. MNT-Halan, Egypt's first fintech unicorn, has served more than 8 million customers and disbursed over USD $4.4 billion in loans. Paymob serves ~350,000 merchants across MEN
Supported documents
Didit templates cover national IDs, passports, residence permits and regional documents — plus 14,000+ documents globally for cross-border flows.
Civil Status Department (CSD), Ministry of Interior
Polycarbonate card with the holder's photograph, name, address, religion, profession, a smart-chip on newer generations, and the **14-digit national number
The de facto primary KYC document. The 14-digit national number encodes **century + date of birth (digits 1–7), governorate of registration (digits 8–9), gender and sequence (digits 10–13, odd = male,
Ministry of Interior — Immigration and Passports Department
ICAO-9303 biometric booklet
Chip-read with BAC/PACE. The default KYC fallback for Egyptians without a current National ID and the primary document for Egyptian diaspora onboarding with foreign fintechs.
Ministry of Defence
Green/black card with photograph
Accepted only in limited contexts; CBE guidance generally excludes it as a primary KYC document because serving military personnel do not carry civilian National IDs while on active duty.
Ministry of Interior — General Directorate of Traffic
Plastic card
Secondary document only; generally not accepted as sole proof of identity for account opening.
Ministry of Interior — Passports, Immigration and Nationality Administration
Card with photograph and permit category
Required for KYC of foreign nationals resident in Egypt; typically paired with the foreign passport.
Egyptian Tax Authority (ETA)
Paper certificate with a 9-digit Tax Identification Number
Used in KYB flows and as a cross-check for self-employed individuals; validated through the ETA portal.
General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI)
Paper/PDF
Primary KYB document for companies, sole proprietorships and partnerships.
Regulators
originally Prime Ministerial Decree 951/2003, updated over the years
Banque Misr
Banque du Caire
Hawiyya, "Identity"
full services, monthly volumes above EGP 750M, minimum capital EGP 30M
ex-initiation, EGP 10M
Civil Status Authority / NIRA
restricted
Well-established physical ID but limited electronic verification API
Egyptian Tax Authority
restricted
GAFI
open
Government & regulated databases
Compliance framework
AML framework
Supervised by Executive Regulations
Primary AML law. Qānūn mukāfaḥat ghasīl al-amwāl — Law 80 of 2002 as amended by Law 181/2008, Law 36/2014 and Law 17/2020 — is Egypt's umbrella anti-money-laundering statute. Its Executive Regulations (originally Prime Ministerial Decree 951/2003, updated over the years) set out the CDD, record-keeping, threshold and suspicious-transaction reporting obligations that bind banks, exchange bureaux, insurers, securities dealers, real-estate brokers, law firms, accountants and other regulated entitie
Data protection
Supervised by Executive Regulations
Biometric data is classified as sensitive personal data and requires explicit consent, heightened necessity analysis, and the same criminal penalties for unauthorised processing. Law 80/2002 and CBE regulations impose a minimum 10-year retention of AML records from the end of the customer relationsh
Penalties for non-compliance
- 2022–2024: EMLCU consolidated goAML reporting across all CBE- and FRA-licensed entities; CBE escalated wallet and PSP inspections, imposing administrative sanctions on banks and PSPs that failed to meet KYC audit-trail requirements.
Use cases
Neobanks, EMIs, payment institutions, lenders, brokerages.
CBE-supervised remote onboarding follows a tiered model similar to other FATF-compliant markets, calibrated around the National ID:
Exchanges, custodians, wallets, on/off-ramps.
Crypto is prohibited. Article 206 of Law 194/2020 criminalises the issuance, trading, promotion and operation of any platform dealing with crypto assets without prior CBE approval. No such approval has ever been granted, and the CBE issued a first public warning against Bitcoin and other virtual cur
Sports betting, online casinos, age-gated platforms.
Physical casinos are lawful but restricted to foreign nationals — Egyptian citizens are prohibited from entering the roughly 15 licensed casinos in Cairo and resort towns. Licensing sits with the Ministry of Tourism and casino operators verify guests via passport and visa checks at the door.
Gig platforms, delivery, creator economy, e-commerce.
E-commerce and marketplace flows are governed by a patchwork: the general Consumer Protection Law 181/2018, Law 206/2020 on e-invoicing (requiring merchant TIN validation), the PDPL (from November 2026), and for payment-facing activities the CBE PSP rules. Jumia Egypt, Noon Egypt, Amazon.eg (formerl
Biometric liveness
The CBE's 2021 and 2023 e-KYC guidance explicitly authorises facial biometrics with active and passive liveness as a substitute for in-branch verification, provided the technology performs document-to-selfie matching, passive liveness for spoof detection, and records a full audit trail. Egyptian banks are expected to rely on providers certified against ISO/IEC 30107-3 Presentation Attack Detection (PAD) — ideally Level 2. Haweya itself uses combined face and fingerprint biometrics bound to a dig
CERTIFICATIONS
Our platform meets the highest international standards for information security, data privacy, and biometric accuracy.
Full EU data protection compliance
Information security management
PAD (liveness + face match)
TRUSTED WORLDWIDE
Join thousands of companies that trust Didit for their verification needs
Didit’s NFC + active biometrics technology blocks the most advanced fraud scenarios, offering a level of security equivalent to or superior to in-person verification.
Spanish Financial Sandbox
CNMV, SEPBLAC & Spanish Treasury — Conclusions Report
Didit is an exceptionally valuable partner, delivering a stable and highly adaptable solution”.
Vuk Adžić
Head of the E-Business Department at Crnogorski Telekom
Didit offered us a robust technology with a simple implementation and adaptability to different markets”.
Fernando Pinto
CEO & CoFounder at TucanPay
Thanks to Didit we have been able to reduce manual processes and improve data extraction accuracy”.
Diana Garcia
Trust & Safety Executive at Shiply
Didit’s integration slashed verification times and costs, freeing resources for other projects”.
Guillem Medina
COO at GBTC Finance
Didit removed KYC costs, enabling faster scaling with high verification standards and less fraud.”
Paul Martin
VP Marketing & Growth at Bondex
Didit’s secure, user-friendly verification boosts customer trust and optimizes our process.”
Cristofer Montenegro
Executive assistant to the CEO at Adelantos
Didit ensures a precise, secure digital onboarding without slowing negotiations or client time.”
Ernesto Betancourth
Gerente de riesgos at CrediDemo
FAQ
Yes. Egypt permits remote KYC onboarding under its national AML framework, including document verification, biometric liveness and video identification where required by regulation.
Didit verifies all major national IDs, passports and residence permits issued in Egypt, plus 14,000+ document types globally for cross-border flows.
Didit charges $0.30 per verification with 500 free checks per month. No contracts, no minimums. Competitors typically charge $1.00–$2.50+ per verification.
Yes. Didit screens against 1,000+ global watchlists including PEP databases, sanctions lists (EU, UN, OFAC, OFSI), and adverse media — covering all AML obligations in Egypt.
Most regulated sectors in Egypt require or strongly recommend biometric liveness detection for remote onboarding. Didit provides ISO 30107-3 PAD Level 2 certified liveness.
Yes. Didit supports document verification, liveness, AML screening and ongoing monitoring aligned with Egypt’s crypto regulatory framework, including EU Travel Rule compliance where applicable.
Yes. Didit provides document-based age verification and identity confirmation suitable for Egypt’s iGaming regulatory requirements.
500 free verifications per month. No contracts, no minimums. $0.30 per verification after the free tier.
