Benin does not have its own open banking framework, and it will not build one alone. As a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, its payments future is being set at the regional level, where an interoperable instant payment system is now being framed as the groundwork for open banking across eight countries.
Benin uses the CFA franc and shares its central bank, the BCEAO, with seven other West African countries. That means the big moves on payments and, eventually, data sharing happen regionally rather than in Cotonou. Domestically, retail digital finance runs mostly on mobile money, led by MTN MoMo and Moov Money, which reach far more people than traditional bank accounts.
In September 2025 the BCEAO launched PI-SPI, an interoperable instant payment platform covering the whole union. By June 2026 about 80 institutions had connected, and the connection deadline was extended to 30 September 2026. The BCEAO has been explicit that PI-SPI is meant as the foundation for open banking and a future digital CFA franc, so the interoperability layer open banking needs is being built union-wide.
There is no national open banking regulation in Benin, and none is expected on its own. The realistic path is that standards for data sharing arrive through the BCEAO once PI-SPI is fully live and the union decides to build on it. For now the priority is getting institutions connected to the instant payment platform and deepening mobile money use, both of which come first.
For Benin, the signal to watch is regional. As PI-SPI moves from rollout to full operation across WAEMU, it creates the shared rails and the political appetite for open banking that no single member could deliver alone. Benin’s own job is adoption: more connected institutions, more digital payments, and a bigger base of formal financial activity to eventually share.
Important Links
Open Banking Nigeria (Open Technology Foundation) is a non-profit backed by a group of industry experts across banking, fintech, risk management, and more to drive and launch the open banking standard in Nigeria.
