Regional workshop on the theme of "Digitization of payments in WAEMU: a catalyst for inclusive economic and social development"
The third focus of the WAEMU regional financial inclusion strategy adopted in 2016 for the harmonization of regional and national initiatives aimed at increasing access to and use of financial services covers the promotion of innovations supporting financial inclusion for the people. Within this framework, the BCEAO has initiated major reforms to support developments in the Union in the areas of bank penetration, use of cashless payment instruments and e-money issuance.
The BCEAO has implemented projects to promote the digitization of payments in order to boost the development of digital financial services in the Union. As a first step, it promoted the automation of financial transactions by national public treasuries by providing access to SICA-UEMOA and STAR-UEMOA. Next, the BCEAO supported national treasuries in connecting to the GIM-UEMOA electronic money platform to issue e-money and adopt innovative payment instruments.
The BCEAO has also provided support by publishing guides on the digitization of public payments and on the digitization of financial transactions by microfinance institutions.
In the general context of promoting digital and financial innovation, the workshop on the digitization of payments will analyze existing issues and initiatives with a view to enhancing the contribution of the digital transformation of the payment sector to financial inclusion in the WAEMU Union. The workshop will also provide an opportunity to discuss major advances by financial ecosystem stakeholders towards making digitization a catalyst for inclusive economic and social development. The workshop will be facilitated mainly by the concerned departments of the BCEAO. Professor Magloire Lanha, Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management at the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin, will make a presentation on the challenges and impacts of the digitization of payments with regard to the WAEMU economies. Representatives of public administrations and microfinance institutions will also make contributions on their experiences.