Electronic money accounts grow but remain underused

Despite a 14.5 percent increase in the number of electronic money accounts opened in 2025, their use remains limited within the UEMOA, a regional economic union in West Africa. The activity rate, which measures how many accounts are regularly used, stood at 32.56 percent in 2025, showing only a slight improvement from the previous year.

Activity rates vary widely across countries

The activity rate of electronic money accounts shows significant differences within the UEMOA. In 2025, it reached 60.67 percent in Guinea-Bissau and 54.48 percent in Togo, while Niger had the lowest rate at 10.85 percent. These disparities highlight varying levels of adoption and use across the region.

Côte d'Ivoire leads in account creation

Côte d'Ivoire leads in the number of electronic money accounts opened, with 109.6 million accounts in 2025. However, only 33.3 million of these were active, showing a gap between account creation and regular use. Other countries like Senegal and Benin also have large numbers of opened accounts, but fewer are actively used.

Transactions and distribution networks grow

Despite the low overall activity rate, the volume of transactions using electronic money increased significantly in 2025. The number of transactions rose from 11.9 billion in 2024 to 16.4 billion in 2025, a 37.3 percent increase. The value of these transactions also rose by 39.7 percent, reaching 219,151 billion CFA francs.

Expanding access but limited usage

The distribution network for electronic money services has expanded, with the number of active service points increasing by 50.8 percent to nearly 1.45 million in 2025. This growth in access contrasts with the relatively low activity rate, suggesting that more people have access to electronic money services, but not all are using them regularly.