Établissement de paiement — Central African Republic

The Central African Republic category mapped to e-money issuance and payment processing.

Regulator: Commission Bancaire de l'Afrique Centrale (COBAC).

Union-wide licence: the rulebook and register are set at the CEMAC (Communauté Économique et Monétaire de l'Afrique Centrale) level by Commission Bancaire de l'Afrique Centrale (COBAC); the agrément is granted for Central African Republic.

Union-wide non-bank payment-institution licence under Règlement N°04/18/CEMAC/UMAC/COBAC (services de paiement dans la CEMAC) + COBAC R-2019/02 (normes prudentielles); granted per member state by the national monetary authority after COBAC's avis conforme (Règlement 04/18 art. 23). CEMAC folds e-money issuance into this single établissement de paiement licence (art. 3, e-money issuance being alinéa 6 of the payment services) - so the category maps to both payment processing and e-money issuance, the inverse of WAEMU's separate EP/EME licences; the equivalence map carries this via maps_to. COBAC publishes no live named register: its own host (sgcobac.org) is defunct and the current EP population is named once a year inside the COBAC annual report (7 établissements de paiement agréés, 2024).

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

None recorded: The COBAC 2024 annual report's country balance-sheet split (Graphique 8) names only Cameroun, Congo, Gabon and Tchad; the Central African Republic has no licensed payment establishment at the EP grain (mobile money runs through banks/branches). A sourced zero.

Source: COBAC Rapport annuel 2024 · as of 2024-12-31

Licence requirements

What it takes to hold this licence, as stated in the cited official instruments. Capital and fees are shown in the currency the statute itself uses.

Requirement	As published	Source	Source date
Minimum capital	XAF 500,000,000, fully paid-up (the minimum released share capital of a payment institution) Verbatim “Le capital social minimum libéré des établissements de paiement est fixé à cinq cent millions de FCFA.”	COBAC R-2019/02 relatif aux normes prudentielles applicables aux établissements de paiement (capital, own funds)	2019-09-23
Local presence / incorporation	A value has been located but not yet verified, so we don't publish it here.	—	—
Timeline	A value has been located but not yet verified, so we don't publish it here.	—	—
Local ownership	No such requirement: The instruments set no local-ownership or nationality requirement	Règlement N°04/18/CEMAC/UMAC/COBAC relatif aux services de paiement dans la CEMAC (the EP framework; art. 23 who licenses)	2018-12-21
Fees	A value has been located but not yet verified, so we don't publish it here.	—	—
Ongoing obligations	Core-own-funds floor: base own funds at least 75% common equity; plus own funds ≥ 2% of the six-month daily-average e-money float (COBAC R-2019/02 arts. 4–6); a cantonnement (client-fund ring-fencing) contract is verified before a favorable avis (R. 04/18 art. 24) Verbatim “Les fonds propres de base des établissements de paiement sont constitués au minimum de 75 % par les capitaux propres nets. … et de 2 % de son encours moyen journalier des six derniers mois de la monnaie électronique en circulation, pour le service visé à l'alinéa 6 de l'article 3 du règlement n° 04/18/CEMAC/UMAC/COBAC.”	COBAC R-2019/02 relatif aux normes prudentielles applicables aux établissements de paiement (capital, own funds)	2019-09-23

Requirements as published in the cited instruments — not legal or compliance advice. 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.

The equivalent in other markets

Categories mapped to the same normalized activity — fintech:EMONEY_ISSUE:

Cross-border rules for Central African Republic →