• Wave launches Wave Bank Africa in Côte d'Ivoire with $32M capital
• Move follows €117M funding to expand digital and traditional banking
• New bank targets West Africa’s 78% unbanked population
  

Wave Mobile Money, a fintech operating in eight African markets—including Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, and The Gambia—has launched a commercial bank called Wave Bank Africa S.A.

The new bank, registered in Côte d'Ivoire with a share capital of 20 billion CFA francs, will provide traditional banking services such as deposits, lending, account management, and payments, according to media reports published on Friday.

Coura Carine Tine has been appointed Chair of the Board, while Bamba Abdoulaye Katier, General Manager of Wave Côte d'Ivoire, will head the new bank.

Expansion Strategy

The launch follows Wave’s €117 million debt financing round completed in June 2025, led by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) with participation from development finance institutions British International Investment (BII), Finnfund, and Norfund.

The funding will help Wave strengthen its liquidity and speed up expansion in existing and new markets. The company aims to broaden access to mobile money and digital finance for West Africa’s largely unbanked population.

Founded in 2018 by Drew Durbin and Lincoln Quirk, Wave obtained an electronic money license from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) in April 2022, becoming the first non-bank, non-telecom fintech authorized to operate in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).

The license allows Wave to issue electronic money and provide services such as merchant payments, savings, money transfers, and mobile microcredit directly to customers, without relying on partner banks. The company says it now serves more than 21 million users across Africa, known for its low-fee model.

Entering a Competitive Banking Market

In Côte d'Ivoire, where Wave began operating in 2019, it reported more than 20 million accounts and nearly 150,000 merchants on its digital payments platform as of March 2024, according to CEO Bamba Katier.

The Ivorian banking market remains highly competitive, led by Société Générale CI (largest by assets), NSIA Banque (second by assets and loans), and Banque Nationale d’Investissement (BNI) (third by assets and second by deposits), according to the Banking Commission’s 2024 Annual Report.

Despite 7.2 million individual bank accounts, the country’s banking penetration rate stood at 22% in 2024, meaning 78% of Ivorians remain unbanked. As of December 2024, Côte d'Ivoire counted 28 banks and four financial institutions.

By creating Wave Bank Africa, the Senegalese-American fintech seeks to blend the flexibility of mobile money with traditional banking, positioning itself to capitalize on the growing digitalization of finance that is expanding banking inclusion across West Africa.

Chamberline Moko