WAEMU’s PI-SPI Rules Turn Routing Into a Regulated Utility
WAEMU is turning payment routing into a regulated utility, reshaping fees, interoperability, and competition across banks, wallets, and fintechs.
What is this trend?
WAEMU’s new PI-SPI rules make payment routing a regulated public utility, forcing interoperable transfers onto a common rail with capped or free fees and reducing the value of proprietary transfer loops.
- PI-SPI becomes the mandatory routing layer for interoperable transfers across WAEMU.
- Domestic transfers up to CFAF 8,000/day are free; fees above that are capped at 0.8% before tax.
- Receiving money is free, weakening monetization based on inbound transfer charges.
- Banks, mobile money operators, fintechs, PSPs, and MFIs must compete on reliability and integration, not closed rails.
- The same framework is set to extend to WAEMU cross-border transfers from June 2027.
What’s the latest?
The BCEAO has now turned routing into a regulated utility in WAEMU: interoperable electronic-money transfers across Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo mu
How it developed
- Cross-Border Orchestration, Contested Settlement Rails, and Transaction-Time Trust
- Instant Payments Are Becoming a Cross-Border Orchestration Layer
Go deeper
Curated long-form picks on this trend — podcasts, videos, and analysis, by vantage.
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