The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) continues to modernize its payment infrastructure to promote instant, secure, and accessible transactions within the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). Beyond the Union, this strategy is now part of a dynamic of financial integration at the level of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African continent. This was indicated by Massi Lawson, Deputy Director of Payment Systems and Means at the BCEAO, on the sidelines of a seminar organized for journalists of the Union on July 20 and 21, 2026 in Dakar.
BCEAO engaged in the regional EPSS project
In this perspective, BCEAO is participating in the ECOWAS Payment and Settlement System (EPSS) project, led by ECOWAS. This regional platform aims to harmonize the legal framework for cross-border payments and facilitate financial exchanges between member states.
According to Massi Lawson, the work is currently focused on defining the hosting criteria for the different components of the platform. The evaluation of applications from central banks wishing to host this regional infrastructure is also ongoing.
A gradual opening towards the pan-African PAPS system
At the same time, BCEAO is preparing its integration into the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPS), a pan-African payment system developed within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Its objective is to facilitate payments related to intra-African trade by reducing costs and transaction times.
Before any final membership, the Central Bank plans a six-month pilot phase involving more than 80 commercial banks in the Union. This experimentation is intended to assess the system’s compliance with WAEMU rules, particularly those related to external financial relations, before a decision by BCEAO authorities. Framework agreements between the Central Bank, PAPS, and banking institutions are currently being finalized.
PI-SPI, an infrastructure for financial institutions
Massi Lawson emphasized that BCEAO does not directly provide payment services to individuals. Its role is to establish a common infrastructure that allows banks, electronic money institutions, and other payment service providers to offer instant transactions to their clients.
Like the SICA and STAR systems, which helped reduce check processing times, the PI-SPI platform represents a new step in modernizing payments, enabling almost instantaneous transfers between different financial actors in the Union.
An economic model focused on the adoption of digital payments
BCEAO explains that the free person-to-person (P2P) transfers serve a specific purpose: to encourage the adoption of electronic payments and gradually reduce dependence on cash.
According to the Central Bank, despite the growth of electronic money, cash still plays a significant role in daily transactions. Users still primarily make deposits, transfers, and quickly withdraw cash to make purchases. The free P2P aims to promote the emergence of a digital payment ecosystem in which electronic money circulates directly between users, without a systematic return to cash.
An opportunity for FinTech companies
The new infrastructure also opens up opportunities for technology companies. Through a standardized interface, a FinTech company will no longer need to develop a specific connection with each bank or electronic money operator in each of the Union’s countries.
A single connection should allow for services to be offered in all eight WAEMU member states, reducing integration costs and facilitating the deployment of regional solutions. Instant settlements could also improve the cash management of these actors through faster transaction processing.
Security at the heart of the system
Finally, BCEAO places security at the center of its system. The platform is based on a secure “alias” system, which can take the form of a unique identifier or a phone number. Central Bank officials, however, recommend using the identifier automatically generated by the system, considered safer against fraud risks related to social engineering.
The Bank also emphasizes that technical exchanges between different systems already rely on tokenization mechanisms, aimed at enhancing data protection and transaction security.
