BCEAO REGIONAL PAYMENT SYSTEMS PROJECT

Objectif officiel

The primary objective of the project is to establish and install an appropriate set of regional payment mechanisms to satisfy the evolving needs of all market sectors in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) - consumer, retail, industrial, commerc ial, government, financial markets, and international - for making payments in a safe, sound, secure and timely manner with certainty and at an acceptable cost. A secondary, but nevertheless equally important objective, is that the new payments systems satisfy internationally accepted standards and core principles and thus ensure a high level of user confidence in the WAEMU financial systems. A well-functioning payments, clearing and settlement system is key to an efficient financial sector, and plays an important role in reducing credit, liquidity and systemic risks in the system. By supporting the implementation of a state-of-the-art payment system for the entire WAEMU region, the project would contribute to the development of non-cash transactions, the strengthening of banks, the deepening of the financial sector, and, more generally, increased regional integration and the expansion of trade and investment among and within member countries. To achieve these objectives, the project has five components: (i) project support; (ii) a real time gross settlement system (RTGS, renamed STAR-UEMOA: Syst�me de Transfert Automatis� et de R�glement); (iii) a low value clearing system (COMPENS), renamed SICA: Syst�me Interbancaire de Compensation Automatis�); (iv) an inter-bank card system; and (v) a common telecommunications and computer infrastructure based on BCEAO's facilities. (i) global project support which includes developing the legal framework and administrative support; (ii) The RTGS component includes the establishment of a RTGS at the regional level which would be open to banks and other financial instruments. (iii) The low value clearing component would upgrade existing systems at the national and regional levels to make them more efficient. It will be designed to meet the daily low-value payment needs of a braod spectrum of users and will cover a variety of payment instruments (checks, automatic debits and credits, payment orders, card payments, etc) (iv) The inter-bank card system would develop a common bank card product, enabling any bank customer to use it at any automatic teller machine (ATM) or participating merchant's facility (point of sale - POS) in the sub-region (v) For all three payment systems, the BCEAO telecommunications satellite network would be used to effect transactions with a high degree of security and at a low cost. Local networks would have to be built and secured for connecting banks' local branches and ATM and POS facilities.

Texte publié par le bailleur, en anglais. Il décrit une intention au moment de l’approbation, pas un résultat obtenu.

Calendrier

Approbation

19 octobre 2000

Clôture

31 juillet 2005

Durée prévue

57 mois

Financement

Engagement actuel

9 400 000 dollars

Dont Association internationale de développement (IDA)

9 400 000 dollars

Coût total déclaré du projet

19 260 000 dollars

Instrument

Prêt d’assistance technique

Montants en dollars des États-Unis, tels que publiés par la Banque mondiale. L’engagement actuel inclut les financements additionnels et les annulations. Ce sont des montants engagés, pas décaissés. Le montant couvre tous les pays participants ; il n’est pas réparti par pays.

Place du numérique

21 % du projet relève des secteurs numériques, selon la ventilation déclarée par le bailleur. Le numérique en est une composante.

• Services 29 %
• Autres institutions financières non bancaires 28 %
• Institutions bancaires 22 %
• Infrastructures numériques 21 %

Thèmes

• Connectivité et haut débit : « telecommunications » figure dans l’objectif officiel.
• Finance numérique et paiements : « payment systems » figure dans l’intitulé.

Documents officiels

• Revue du rapport d’achèvement 3 juin 2008, en anglais
• Rapport d’achèvement et de résultats 29 février 2008, en anglais
• Document d’information sur le projet 16 novembre 2000, en anglais
• Document d’évaluation du projet 26 septembre 2000, en anglais