Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority has moved swiftly against a consumer finance company accused of helping Global Paradigm International School take out loans using parents’ personal data without their consent, in a case that has drawn direct presidential attention.
FRA Chairman Islam Azzam ordered a set of emergency sanctions against the firm after regulators confirmed the transactions, just a few days after parents at the Cairo school first exposed the scheme on social media. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi then told the state bodies to start a full investigation into the matter.
Because of the FRA response the company now faces a referral. The company also faces a one-month suspension on issuing any finance contracts. Additionally the company faces a freeze on its tuition and club-membership lending products while a full review is carried out.
Investigators from the authority’s non-banking finance, complaints, compliance and anti-money laundering units conducted field inspections within four days of the reports surfacing, and worked with other government bodies to cancel every unauthorized loan and financial obligation placed on the affected families.
Separately, under FRA Board Resolution No. 45 of 2026, regulators stripped the company’s consumer finance CEO of his operating license and sanctioned several other senior executives over violations the authority said harmed customers’ rights.
The FRA has also summoned the firm’s general assembly, with a regulatory representative attending to review what officials described as breakdowns in internal controls — a process running in parallel with, but separate from, ongoing criminal proceedings.
The fallout has extended beyond the finance company itself. Education Minister Mohamed Abdel Latif placed Global Paradigm International School under the oversight of a financial and administrative controller, while the Public Prosecution ordered the pre-trial detention of the school’s board chairman as the criminal investigation continues.
