The Client
In the highly competitive Egyptian financial market, the growing focus on retail banking has brought with it an influx of retail-oriented, mostly international, institutions. Egyptian American Bank (EAB) continues to flourish in this changing landscape by offering customers a wide range of new banking and financial services through its 29-branch network.

EAB was established in 1976 as a joint venture bank between American Express Holdings Inc and the public-sector Bank of Alexandria. The bank has been a software client of Euronet Worldwide since 1996.

The Challenge
EAB's new retail banking strategy concentrated on the redesign of its bank branches while seeking new ways to attract high-end retail customers. The bank faced two primary challenges: how to provide quality distribution to customers while still expanding its ATM touchpoints; and how to deliver new, value-added products quickly and still maintain the quality of its ATM services and other transaction capabilities. EAB and Euronet began discussing the feasibility of outsourcing operation of the bank's in-branch ATMs.

The Solution
In the rapidly evolving Middle East market, where the movement from cash to electronic payments is accelerating, EAB chose to outsource its ATM operation to Euronet and gain access to the newly established CashNet independent ATM network in Egypt. This end-to-end solution allowed for a smooth implementation and minimal impact on EAB's IT staff, since Euronet was able to leverage its existing software already in place for the bank.

"By offloading the ATM operation to Euronet and using some of our existing software and hardware resources, we realized we could do more at reduced cost," said Magdi Hanna, EAB General Manager of Retail Banking. "By outsourcing the processes to Euronet, we expect to increase our capacity for transactions and broaden our customer base without having to make the large investment required to buy it or build it ourselves."

The Results
EAB currently retains Euronet software for debit card management and connections to its local network, while outsourcing its ATM operation to Euronet. Additionally, Euronet has delivered two new products --Bill Pay and Mobile Phone Recharge at EAB ATMs, and has opened up EAB's ATM network to new cardholders to generate more revenue and attract new bank customers. As a next step in the cooperation, EAB has agreed to purchase Euronet's Wireless Banking solution on an outsourcing basis for EAB customers. The Wireless Banking project will use the existing interface between EAB and Euronet implemented as part of the ATM project and will provide additional value added services for EAB customers while minimizing the impact on EAB IT infrastructure and operations.

"With 65 million people, Egypt holds great potential for EFT products," said John Romney, Euronet Vice President and Southern Europe/Middle East Regional Manager. "Egypt is on the verge of significant growth as banks prepare to issue millions of debit cards and as the Egyptian government plans to automate salary payments for approximately 6 million civil servants through direct deposit and debit/salary cards. Through a combination of software and outsourced service offerings from Euronet, EAB can quickly deliver new and innovative products to the Egyptian market with a minimal capital investment and operational impact and thus benefit from the explosive growth in the EFT business in Egypt over the next few years."