vritti
Changing Lives
September 2017
19
— By Mohit Bhargava
Figure 1: Mobile money growth in Africa
Growth and share of 90-day active accounts
8%
Share of value of transactions
98%
92%
18mn 2011
100mn 2016
29%
71%
87%
West Africa
2%
14%
Rest of Africa
Source: GSMA
Enabling e-money regulations facilitating growth
West Africa Economic and Monetary Union
(WAEMU) is a group of eight francophone West
African countries, regulated by one central bank
BCEAO and follow one currency (CFA) and
one monetary policy. These countries include
Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-
Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. e-money issuance and compliance issues, while
the MNO or non-bank will focus on developing,
distributing, marketing and managing the
mobile financial service. Under the second
model, MNOs or non-banks can become e-
money issuers by creating a dedicated subsidiary
for e-money issuance and distribution.
In 2006, BCEAO came up with an innovative
e-money regulatory framework allowing MNOs
and non-banks to provide mobile financial
services in the region. The regulation was further
reinforced in 2015. Under the regulation, the
central bank permits two models for Mobile
Network Operators (MNOs) and non-banks
to offer mobile financial services. Under the first
model, MNOs or non-banks can partner with
banks. Banks will be responsible for BCEAO’s innovative e-money regulatory frame
-work provided impetus for MNOs and non-
banks to launch mobile financial services. By
end of September 2015, there were 33 e-
money issuers offering digital financial services
in WAEMU. 29 out of 33 services have adopted
the first model, where MNOs and non -banks
have partnered with banks. The remaining 4
services follow the second model and are
run by standalone e-money issuers.