On 16 September 2026, the Central Bank of West African States published an initial list of certified Business APIs for the WAEMU Interoperable Instant Payment System, PI-SPI. Updated on 17 September, the list now contains 24 APIs.
BCEAO says the certification confirms compliance with its functional, technical, performance and security requirements. The interfaces are intended to let businesses send and receive payments, submit bulk-payment requests, automate payment operations, track transactions in real time and improve treasury management.
The list includes at least one certified API in each of the Union's eight countries. Senegal has nine entries and Côte d'Ivoire eight. Together they represent 17 of the 24 entries, or 70.8 percent. This distribution describes the current certification list; it does not measure transaction volumes, customer adoption or service quality.
Ecobank appears in all eight countries. The list also includes banks, mobile-money providers, microfinance institutions and technology firms, including MTN MFS, Orange Finances Mobiles, UM-ACEP, Touchpoint Financial Services, Paymetrust and Connekt4.
On the same date, BCEAO published an updated list of 123 participants authorised to open PI-SPI services to the public. These are two different indicators. Public-service authorisation concerns a participant's ability to offer PI-SPI to customers. Business API certification concerns the interface through which payments can be integrated into corporate systems and processes.
The 24 APIs should therefore not automatically be treated as a strict subset of the 123 public participants. Some entries are technology or integration actors with different roles in the payment chain.
A Business API can allow a company to create a payment request from an invoice, receive transaction confirmation automatically, execute bulk payments, attach commercial references, track status and feed accounting reconciliation or treasury positions.
Regional interoperability is central to the model. BCEAO states that the services are available across WAEMU regardless of the payment providers used by payer and beneficiary. In principle, this can reduce the need for businesses to maintain separate bilateral connections to every bank or wallet used by their customers.
Certification does not yet demonstrate commercial availability or real operating performance. The next evidence should cover integration timelines, pricing, success rates, response times, refunds, duplicate handling, transaction statuses, reconciliation, security incidents, service levels, volumes and the number and diversity of connected businesses.
Automation also introduces operational risks. A compromised credential, an incorrect bulk file or a weak retry mechanism can generate many erroneous transactions quickly. Businesses and solution providers will need controls for authentication, role separation, unique transaction references, limits, beneficiary validation, audit trails, reconciliation, continuity and incident response.
The first 24 certifications show PI-SPI moving beyond person-to-person transfers towards integration with business operations. Coverage across all eight countries and the diversity of participants are meaningful signals. Actual adoption, cost, reliability and reconciliation quality will determine whether the APIs reduce payment fragmentation in practice.
