What does it take to get an e-money licence in Sierra Leone?
To hold an e-money licence in Sierra Leone, you need the Mobile money operator licence from Bank of Sierra Leone. Published local presence / incorporation: The applicant must be a registered limited liability company, and must open and maintain a trust account at a commercial bank specifically for facilitating mobile payments (Guidelines for Mobile Money Services §6.1). Full requirements — minimum capital, local presence, timeline, local ownership, fees and ongoing obligations — are set out below in each instrument's own words, with source and date; amounts are in the statute's own currency.
“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
Mobile money operator
Bank of Sierra Leone| Requirement | As published | Source | Source date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum capital | Not officially published: No minimum-capital figure is published: the National Payment Systems Act 2022 requires capital adequacy « at levels specified by the Central Bank » (s.6(2)) and the Guidelines for Mobile Money Services fix no capital amount. No official figure is published. | National Payment Systems Act, 2022 (Act 8 of 2022) — s.6 (requirement for a licence: no payment service without a BSL licence; capital adequacy at levels specified by the Central Bank) | 2022-06-23 |
| Local presence / incorporation | The applicant must be a registered limited liability company, and must open and maintain a trust account at a commercial bank specifically for facilitating mobile payments (Guidelines for Mobile Money Services §6.1). Verbatim“The applicant must be a registered limited liability company; (b) Must open and maintain a trust account(s) at a commercial bank(s) specifically for the purpose of facilitating mobile payments” | Guidelines for Mobile Money Services (issued under s.53, Other Financial Services Act 2001) — §6.1 (registered limited-liability company; trust account), §25 (trust-account = total outstanding e-money; 24-hour float replenishment) | not dated |
| Timeline | A value has been located but not yet verified, so we don't publish it here. | — | — |
| Local ownership | No such requirement: The Guidelines for Mobile Money Services impose no local-shareholding or nationality cap on a mobile money operator. | Guidelines for Mobile Money Services (issued under s.53, Other Financial Services Act 2001) — §6.1 (registered limited-liability company; trust account), §25 (trust-account = total outstanding e-money; 24-hour float replenishment) | not dated |
| Fees | A value has been located but not yet verified, so we don't publish it here. | — | — |
| Ongoing obligations | A mobile money operator must at all times keep the balance on its trust account equal to the total outstanding (un-spent) e-money of all holders (100% float backing), and must replenish the pledged float within 24 hours of depletion or be sanctioned (Guidelines for Mobile Money Services §§6/25). Verbatim“the balance on the trust account shall always be equal to the total outstanding (un-spent) balance of all holders of the e-money … replenishment of the pledged float within 24 hours of depletion, failing which the issuer shall be sanctioned” | Guidelines for Mobile Money Services (issued under s.53, Other Financial Services Act 2001) — §6.1 (registered limited-liability company; trust account), §25 (trust-account = total outstanding e-money; 24-hour float replenishment) | not dated |
Requirements as published in the cited instruments — not legal or compliance advice. Capital and fees are shown in the currency the statute itself uses. Where a value is located but not yet verified, we show that it exists but don't publish the figure. Verify directly with the regulator.
Who already holds this licence?
0 entities are on the Bank of Sierra Leone register under the Mobile money operator category — view the register .
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