Wave Mobile Money the first fintech to be granted an Electronic Money Institution licence
Wave Digital Finance, a subsidiary of the Wave Mobile Money Group (Wave), has become the first non-bank, non-telecommunications operator operating in several markets in the WAEMU region to be granted an Electronic Money Establishment (EME) licence by the Central Bank of West African States - BCEAO.
This decision by the Central Bank is a strong signal of the growing recognition for new models of financial inclusion led by fintechs such as Wave.
Until now, the pan-African fintech conducted its mobile money activities through partner banks.
This EME licence will allow Wave to offer its financial services and products directly to customers. In addition, it will allow the fintech to diversify its value proposition and offer more financial services such as merchant payments, savings, credit and international money transfers in collaboration with other partners in the financial ecosystem in the UEMOA region.
Commenting on this development, Drew Durbin, CEO of Wave, said: "We are very pleased to have received our EME licence. We are grateful to the Central Bank for embracing our vision of providing radically inclusive and affordable financial services.
Continuing, "The authorities have seen us grow to become the largest mobile money service provider in Senegal with over 6 million monthly active users in just 4 years, and this is just the beginning of a new era of customer-first mobile money in the WAEMU.
Ms. Coura Carine Sène, Regional Director of Wave in the UEMOA agrees: "This is a historic moment for us because it represents both recognition of the work done in recent years and the opening of even more ambitious perspectives. Despite our leading position in the market, we were not able to offer all the financial services we would have liked to to our clients.
With our new status as an Electronic Money Institution, we will have direct access to the Central Bank, on an equal footing with our main competitors, and we will have all the cards in hand to contribute more effectively to their mission of promoting financial inclusion in the region. We hope that our new products will attract more customers and enable more revenue for our distribution partners."
Wave's mobile money service which was launched in 2018 in Senegal has already managed to revolutionise the established mobile money industry in the UEMOA space and beyond for several decades.
Wave's unique model and approach to promoting financial inclusion based on the best technological advances allows it to offer free bill payments, free money withdrawals and deposits and transfers at just 1%, - making it up to 70% more affordable compared to traditional pricing structures of its competitors.
"Our wish is to extend our licence to other UEMOA countries fairly quickly so that our entire customer base in the region can benefit as well," added Ms Sène. Another step in Wave's mission to make Africa a cashless continent.