‘Interoperability Not Truly Free’: Fintech Experts On West Africa’s Instant-Payments Rollout

The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) said early October that interoperable electronic-money transactions within the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) must be processed through its Interoperable Platform of the Instant Payment System, known as PI-SPI, from November 2.

Under the new rules, domestic transfers sent by an individual will be free when the user’s cumulative daily transfers through a participant are 8,000 CFA francs ($13.66) or less, regardless of the number of transactions. BCEAO said that threshold covers 75% of electronic-money transactions in the region.

The new regime is the latest step in BCEAO’s effort to turn PI-SPI into the central infrastructure for instant payments across UEMOA, which comprises Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. The countries share the CFA franc and a common central bank.

PI-SPI was officially launched in Senegal’s capital Dakar on September 30, 2025. According to BCEAO, it allows customers of participating banks, electronic-money issuers, microfinance institutions and payment institutions to send and receive money instantly, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, across participating networks. Transactions are denominated in CFA francs.

A year after launch, BCEAO said PI-SPI had 175 connected participants and could provide instant-payment services to more than 38 million people. That compares with 80 connected participants as of April 2, 2026.

Oluwatobi Oseni, CEO of cross-border fintech company Payshiga Technologies, says the central question for fintech operators is who ultimately bears the cost of interoperability.

“Making transfers up to 8,000 CFA francs ($13.66) free does not eliminate the costs of switching, settlement, liquidity, fraud management and agent networks,” Oseni shares with FORBES AFRICA, adding that BCEAO should ensure that costs are transparently allocated among financial institutions and payment providers rather than falling disproportionately on agents or low-income consumers.

Dickson Nsofor, Founder and CEO of pan-African B2B financial infrastructure and payment processing company Kora Technologies, says BCEAO had specified what customers pay but had not publicly established, in the communiqué, what participating institutions pay each other or the central bank.

“But the risk is known: the BCEAO has itself linked falling distribution points partly to lower agent commissions. Free small transfers are good for inclusion. The test is whether the pricing delivers genuine savings for users without shifting the cost to agents or other fees,” Nsofor says to FORBES AFRICA.

Daniel Adeyemi Adeboyejo, Country General Manager for Nigeria at global B2B cross-border payment and foreign exchange platform Verto, says the model could work if lower prices generated enough additional transactions to compensate providers for lower revenue per transfer.

“Providers may earn less on each transfer but process many more of them. The risk is what happens if that does not happen. Providers still have to cover their costs. They could do that by reducing what they pay agents or increasing other charges,” he says to FORBES AFRICA.

Sheriff Adedokun, Co-Founder and CEO of cross-border fintech platform Clea, says the sustainability of the ecosystem would depend on whether payment providers and their distribution networks retain sufficient economic incentives to serve customers.

“Interoperability is not truly free,” Adedokun tells FORBES AFRICA, pointing to infrastructure, settlement, compliance, liquidity and distribution costs.

Electronic money has become a major part of financial activity in UEMOA.

BCEAO’s latest annual report on digital financial services shows that electronic-money accounts reached 248 million in 2024, up 18.99% from the previous year. Active electronic-money accounts reached 76.9 million.

The region recorded about 11 billion electronic-money transactions in 2024, up 27% in volume, with a total value of 160.4 trillion CFA francs (approximately $264.55 billion in then exchange rate), up 20%. Transfers accounted for 20.92% of transaction volume and 31.84% of transaction value.