In its annual report on regional electronic banking in WAEMU for the year 2018, the Banque centrale des
West African States ( Bceao ) informs that at the end of December 2018, the Union had 128 banks, 6,296
787 cards issued, 3,698 ATMs (ATMs) and 7,015 electronic payment terminals (TPEs).
According to the document consulted by the Senegalese economy newspaper (Lejecos), Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and
Burkina concentrate more than 50% of electronic payment activity for the year 2018. A year earlier, it is Mali
who was in 3rd place. The BCEAO stresses that this situation could be explained on the one hand by the
economic dynamism of Côte d'Ivoire, which is home to 5 of the top 10 banks in Uemoa, and other
part, by the expansion of the Burkinabe bank Coris Bank International (CBI), as part of its strategy of
deployment in West Africa, particularly in Burkina Faso, where it has greatly increased the size of its
portfolio, opening new branches and issuing prepaid cards.
Concerning Benin, Togo, Niger and Guinea-Bissau, their positioning remains unchanged between 2017
and 2018. “The total number of cards issued came to 6,296,787 units compared to 4,819,494 in 2017, i.e.
a significant increase of 31%. In the Union, the cards issued mainly consist of
prepaid cards and cards backed by a bank account. In 2018, 4,802,989 cards, i.e. 76% of the total
are cards backed by a bank account, and 24% are prepaid cards, i.e. 1,493,798 units”,
informs the Bceao .
Between 2017 and 2018, the Bceao specifies that the issuance of prepaid cards had a strong impact on growth
overall number of cards in circulation. Indeed, the number of prepaid cards increased by 121
basis points, thus going from 792,938 to 1,493,798 units over the period under review. Conversely, the workforce
bank-backed cards increased by only 16 basis points, or 658,132 cards
banking.