Since 2 November 2026, all interoperable e-money transfers in the WAEMU (UEMOA) must go through PI-SPI, the instant payment system set up by the regional central bank (BCEAO). The first days were laborious: transfers debited but never credited, aliases rejected, operators passing the buck. On 8 November, money transfer service providers in Senegal in turn called for a dialogue with the central bank.
Transfers debited, but never received
The incidents began on day one. According to Senego, which relays accounts published by L’Observateur, customers sending money from their bank account to a mobile wallet saw their transactions fail, notably to Wave, Orange Money and Flash. Several users regret that no transition period was planned.
Launch Base Africa describes more specific cases. Transfers from Orange Money to Wave were taken from the sender without reaching the recipient; Orange Money refunded some customers manually, after a delay. A transfer from Ecobank to Wave remained stuck at the status “request received, being processed”, and transfers from CBAO to Wave reportedly failed. At customer service desks, telecoms companies and fintechs reportedly blamed each other.
The alias headache
To receive a payment on PI-SPI, each user creates an alias, an identifier that replaces bank details. According to Launch Base Africa, users in Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire saw their own phone number rejected and declared unavailable. Others found that reserving an alias on one platform prevented them from using it elsewhere. One user sums up the perceived step backwards: an action that used to take two clicks now requires copying and pasting a very long code.
On the banking side, access remains uneven. Coris reportedly requires customers to visit a branch to link their account, and Ecobank Senegal points to a feature in its app that customers say is unavailable. Wave, which holds around 80% of the Senegalese mobile money market according to the same outlet, only connected to the platform on 30 September, the last day of the deadline. The update to its app began rolling out in early November and, according to a user quoted by the outlet, only some users had received it by 1 November.
Free on paper, with fees shifted to withdrawals
The pricing rule is simple on paper. Transfers totalling less than 8,000 CFA francs per day are free, and above that, fees are capped at 0.8% of the amount excluding tax, Senego notes. The BCEAO says this threshold covers 75% of e-money transactions in the Union, according to Launch Base Africa. On the same day, e-money account limits rose from 2 to 4 million CFA francs, and the monthly cumulative top-up limit from 10 to 15 million.
But the cap does not apply to cash withdrawals, and that is where the bill shifts. Wave has reportedly introduced a 1% fee on withdrawals in Senegal, according to Launch Base Africa. One customer also reports paying 0.94% on a UBA transfer, i.e. the 0.8% cap plus 0.14% in taxes. For Professor Souleymane Astou Diagne, quoted by Senego, making small transfers free will weigh on the revenue operators earn from fees, and those that diversify their services will fare better.
Field agents ask to be heard
The protest has spread to intermediaries. According to Osiris, relaying PI Business Info, the Permanent Consultation Framework of money transfer service providers in Senegal issued a statement in Dakar on 8 November calling for the immediate opening of a dialogue with the BCEAO. These players, who run points of sale and cash distribution, say they were “presented with a fait accompli”.
Their grievances concern the lack of prior consultation, repeated technical malfunctions, support deemed insufficient and the opacity surrounding the sharing of costs and margins. Above all, they fear that poorly managed interoperability will benefit banks and large telecoms operators first, to the detriment of small agents. They propose a round table bringing together monetary authorities, banks, operators and service providers. As of 3 November, the BCEAO had not commented publicly on the outages, according to Launch Base Africa.
The project nevertheless retains support in principle, including among its critics, in the name of financial inclusion. The risk, highlighted by Launch Base Africa, lies elsewhere: users are threatening to return to cash, and the proliferation of aliases could push people to hold several wallets, the very opposite of the interoperability being sought.
Frequently asked questions
What is PI-SPI?
It is the BCEAO’s interoperable instant payment platform. It connects accounts held by banks, e-money issuers and microfinance institutions. Since 2 November 2026, interoperable e-money transfers within the WAEMU must go through it.
Are transfers free?
Yes, up to a total of 8,000 CFA francs per day per user. Above that, fees are capped at 0.8% excluding tax, but cash withdrawals are not covered by this cap.
What should I do if a transfer was debited but never arrived?
In some reported cases, Orange Money eventually refunded customers manually, but after long delays; other transfers remained stuck. It is therefore important to keep the transaction reference and file a claim with the institution that debited the account.
Sources
- West Africa's Unified Payments Network Is Off to a Rocky Start — Launch Base Africa, 2026-11-03
- Mandatory PI-SPI: bank transfers to Wave and Orange Money fail — Senego, 2026-11-03
- PI-SPI: behind the BCEAO's innovation, service providers sound the alarm — Osiris (PI Business Info), 2026-11-10