Madar (Dakar) - Bank to Wallet and Wallet to Bank, the services used to move money between bank accounts and e-wallets, are suspended in Senegal from Monday, 2 November 2026, with banks directing customers to PI-SPI, the instant interoperable payment platform of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), Le Soleil reported.
Launched on 30 September 2025, PI-SPI is now due to become the mandatory channel for interoperable e-money transactions in the eight countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), the newspaper said.
Domestic transfers of CFA 8,000 or less per day per user become free to send, with no limit on the number of operations, a threshold that covers about 75% of e-money transactions in the union, according to BCEAO figures cited by the paper. Receiving money remains free with no cap, and cross-border transfers will get the same terms from 1 June 2027.
The pricing cuts into the revenue of e-money institutions and mobile money operators, for which transfer commissions have been a major source of income. "Making this segment free, then mandatory, strips the connection itself of any direct profitability," economist Youssou Koanda wrote in an op-ed carried by Ecofin, urging providers to develop value-added services and to explain the change to users.
To use the platform, customers must update their bank's app, activate PI-SPI and create an alias such as their phone number, then enter the recipient's identifier or QR code and the amount, and check the details shown before confirming. "PI-SPI transfers are instant and irrevocable," the paper noted.
Customers quoted by Le Soleil complained about the short notice, saying the notification reached them only days before the change took effect.
