How do e-money licences map across African markets?

E-money issuance is licensed under 28 local licence categories across 39 African markets — each normalized to the same canonical activity, so a licence in one market maps to its equivalent in another. Each market's local category name, regulator and source is below; local scope still differs, so the mapping is at the activity level, not word-for-word.

Regulators name this licence differently market by market: E-Money Issuer in Kenya, Établissement de monnaie électronique (Electronic Money Institution) across the WAEMU (UMOA/UEMOA) union, Instituição de moeda eletrónica (Electronic money institution) in Cabo Verde, Établissement de paiement (Payment Institution) across the CEMAC (Communauté Économique et Monétaire de l'Afrique Centrale) union, plus 16 more in the table below. The same authorization is asked about under other names too: mobile money, electronic money institution (EMI), stored value or e-wallet.

Maintained: this official source is re-checked on a weekly schedule — last checked 2026-08-04 · changed 2026-08-04.

“E-money issuance” here is the normalized activity: Issue stored-value / electronic money redeemable at par and hold the customer float. The category of licence that lets a provider keep customers' money.

Activity id (as used by the Afriset MCP): fintech:EMONEY_ISSUE

* The regulator publishes a count of licence holders for this category, not a named register (WAEMU — BCEAO; CEMAC — COBAC); the figure is that recorded count.