Two new texts are being prepared by the Central African Banking Commission, with a view to supplementing the already existing regulation of electronic money issuance and payment activities. One of the documents consists of defining the prudential standards that will be applicable to payment institutions.

The rise of wallets via mobile has seen the creation of a multitude of non-banking players, whose activities are either to collect money deposits or to allow cash withdrawals from mobile phones. If this has contributed to the generalization of mobile money, there is nevertheless a latent risk that the banking regulator of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (Cémac) wants to anticipate.

With this regulatory project which is of a prudential nature, we should now expect that it will be necessary to mobilize a certain amount of money in equity, to carry out this activity. There is, in fact, a risk that a situation of bankruptcy or embezzlement will push an institution to no longer honor its payment commitments. A situation that would penalize both depositors and issuers of electronic money.

This risk also concerns payment service providers other than payment institutions, which range from small and medium-sized enterprises to individuals in neighborhoods. On this second point also, a text is being prepared, with a view to regulating the obtaining of approvals and their modification of statutes.

The new texts could redistribute the cards in the sector, in particular mobile money, which has undermined traditional money transfer operators. The obligation to have a cushion of capital to cover potential risks could exclude many people who offer this service as individuals, and reposition the fallen leaders, in particular with the upcoming introduction of interoperability in the sub-region.

According to a recent report by the Bank of Central African States, the volume of money circulating in mobile money accounts, and not yet disbursed, reached at the end of 2018 the outstanding amount of 125.7 billion CFA francs, i.e. three times its outstanding amount at the end of 2016. Also, the number of active users of electronic money services reached 6.7 million. Finally, the value of electronic money transactions reached 8,300 billion CFA francs, seven times the amount of 2016.