• BCEAO mandates all financial institutions to complete integration
• Move aims to ensure seamless, interoperable real-time payments

All financial institutions in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) must connect to the interoperable instant payment system platform (PI-SPI) by June 30, under a deadline set by the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) in a statement published Thursday, April 2.

The directive applies to banks, microfinance institutions, electronic money issuers and payment institutions. It requires them to complete technical integration, ensure their systems comply and roll out services to customers. The aim is to avoid uneven adoption and ensure the platform works seamlessly across the region.

As of Thursday, April 2, the platform had 80 connected participants, including 59 banks, nine electronic money issuers, 11 microfinance institutions and one payment institution. However, a large share of the ecosystem is still transitioning, with 42 institutions undergoing live testing. The BCEAO is urging them to go live faster so services become fully accessible to customers.

Before the mandate, the payment landscape across the union was marked by uneven integration, with instant services available to some players while others operated on separate systems, slowing transactions and limiting usage.

"This is the accelerator the entire UEMOA payments ecosystem had been waiting for," said Luc Kpenou, executive head of finance and digital payments and director of GIM-UEMOA. "The BCEAO has blown the final whistle: connecting to the PI-SPI platform is no longer a pilot project, but a regulatory obligation with a deadline. It marks the end of uneven interoperability."

Deployed on Sept. 30, 2025, the PI-SPI is a new payment infrastructure covering the entire UEMOA zone. It enables real-time financial transactions around the clock, seven days a week, between different players in the financial system. The platform supports instant transfers between bank accounts, electronic money wallets and microfinance institutions, regardless of the networks used.

The BCEAO said this interoperability marks a shift away from fragmented systems that have long dominated the region. Through the initiative, the central bank aims to make digital payments widely accessible at lower cost and capable of supporting economic activity.

Chamberline Moko