Casimir Djezou

Participants hope to find, at the end of the workshop, precise answers to a number of questions about mobile payment. (Photo: Dr) The question of mobile payment in the Uemoa zone was on the menu of a workshop organized on Wednesday, December 9, at the Cedeao representation in Abidjan, in the commune of Cocody.

Initiated by the Ministry of African Integration and Ivorians Abroad , the purpose of this meeting was to establish, on the one hand, an informational database on mobile payments and, on the other hand, to know the level of integration of this method of payment in the Uemoa zone. It brought together 40 experts from different institutions and other public and private structures.

The workshop was chaired by Dr. Golé Bi Guillaume, Director of Community Macroeconomic and Financial Policies, Ministry of African Integration and Ivorians Abroad.

He indicated at the opening ceremony that it was specifically a question, for the participants, of taking stock of the regulatory texts governing the means of mobile payment, of informing very small and medium-sized enterprises (TPME) of the contributions and challenges represented by mobile payment methods; to know the contributions of mobile payments, in the financial inclusion of the sub-region and to know the ecosystem of cross-border mobile payment of the Uemoa zone.

He underlined that mobile payment has known, since 2013, a craze in UEMOA. According to him, the number of electronic money accounts opened increased from 11 million in 2013 to more than 50 million in 2017, according to a report by UEMOA. On the other hand, this same report indicates that the value of transactions, which was 1606 billion in 2013, reached 16,943 billion in 2017.

“Analysis of available data reveals that Côte d'Ivoire concentrates a significant share of digital financial services activity in the Union. It accounts for 37.9% of electronic money accounts, i.e. 19.15 million, up 49% compared to 2016. It is followed by Burkina Faso (13.8%), Mali (13.5%) and of Benin (13%),” he noted.

He also noted that this method of payment and transfer increasingly goes beyond the national framework, creating, in fact, a cross-border mobile payment ecosystem with promising prospects.

He added that the workshop also aimed to answer several questions raised by this trend. In particular, how is the collection of data relating to mobile payment carried out? Who are the players involved in a mobile payment ecosystem? What is the operating model of this ecosystem in the Uemoa zone? What advantages can SMEs in the sub-region derive from this method of payment? What are the challenges with mobile payment?

Participants hope to find, at the end of the workshop, precise answers to a number of questions about mobile payment. (Picture: Dr.)

SNPECI - New Press and Publishing Company of Côte d'Ivoire