A workshop to build a database on mobile payment in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) area was held on Wednesday 09 December 2020 in Abidjan, at the initiative of the Directorate of Macroeconomic and Financial Policies of the Ministry of African Integration and the Ivorians of the 'Exterior.

According to its director general, Golé Bi Guillaume, this meeting makes it possible to constitute on the one hand, an information database on mobile payments and on the other hand, to know the level of integration of this method of settlement in the WAEMU zone.

This is specifically to take stock of the texts governing mobile payment methods, to inform very small and medium-sized enterprises of the contributions and challenges represented by mobile means of payment, to know the contributions of mobile payments in the financial inclusion of the sub-region and the cross-border mobile payment ecosystem of the WAEMU zone.

Different themes are addressed, namely "the state of play of financial inclusion in the WAEMU zone, mobile payment, a means of financial inclusion at the service of banks and mobile payment, regulatory database (BCEAO)".

Mobile payment, since 2013, has been experiencing a craze in the WAEMU. The number of e-money accounts increased from 11 million in 2013 to more than 50 million in 2017. The value of transactions, which was CFAF 1.606 billion in 2013, reached CFAF 16.943 billion in 2017, with a significant share of digital financial services activity in the Union held by Côte d'Ivoire. It totals 37.9% of e-money accounts, or 19.15 million, up 49% compared to 2016. It is followed by Burkina Faso (13.8%) and Benin (13%).