Fintech & digital payments rules in Senegal (2026)

Senegal is a WAEMU/UMOA member, so digital payments and fintech are governed at the regional level by the BCEAO rather than by a Senegal-specific statute. The BCEAO grants and supervises all payments and e-money licenses across the eight member states.

Instruction No. 001-01-2024, in force since 23 January 2024, created a dedicated payment-services regime. Payment institutions must obtain BCEAO approval (agrément) for core payment services and register for account-aggregation activity, with minimum capital ranging from 10 to 100 million CFA francs depending on the services offered.

E-money issuance is governed by Instruction No. 008-05-2015 (21 May 2015). Non-bank issuers need BCEAO approval/authorization with minimum capital of 300 million CFA francs, fully paid before approval; EMIs cannot grant credit or pay interest on stored funds.

BCEAO set a compliance/transition deadline (originally May 2025) that was extended to 31 August 2025; firms operating without a license faced shutdown. As of early 2026 Senegal had the highest number of approved payment institutions in the Union, with named licensees including PayDunya and Bictorys (payment institutions) and InTouch (EMI).

BCEAO launched a regional interoperable instant-payment system: the pilot began 22 July 2024 and the platform PI-SPI was officially launched on 30 September 2025. It enables 24/7 account-to-account transfers across banks, EMIs, microfinance and payment institutions, including mobile-money wallets, throughout WAEMU.

There is no dedicated open-banking mandate or specific BNPL regime; account-aggregation (an open-banking-style service) is brought into scope only as a registered activity under the 2024 payment-services instruction, and BNPL is not separately regulated (consumer credit falls under general WAEMU banking/credit rules, while EMIs are barred from extending credit).