Payment methods in Senegal
Wave's flat 1% fee and free deposits/withdrawals have disrupted the traditional mobile money pricing model dominated by Orange Money.
Market takeaways
- Wave's flat 1% fee and free deposits/withdrawals have disrupted the traditional mobile money pricing model dominated by Orange Money.
- Wave serves nearly 11 million active customers in Senegal, accounting for roughly 90% of the adult population with a Wave account.
- USSD remains significant for rural users outside Dakar who rely on basic feature phones.
- Senegal is part of the WAEMU regional monetary union sharing the CFA franc with seven other West African countries.
- Wave secured US$137M in debt financing in July 2025 to expand its mobile money services.
Population
~18M
Online population
~12M
Banked population
~22%
Mobile Money Penetration
~70% of adults
Credit card population
~3%
Payment method breakdown
- Mobile Money60%
- Cash30%
- Bank Transfer6%
- Card3%
- Other1%
Card scheme breakdown
- Visa50%
- Mastercard45%
- Local Schemes5%
- Other0%
Cross-border e-commerce
Market data coming soon.
Featured payment methods in Senegal
Popular options based on coverage and prominence in this market.
Wave
Wave is a mobile-money provider focused on West Africa (Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso; also active in The Gambia and Uganda). It offers low-cost transfers, free deposits/withdrawals and bill payments via a smartphone app and agent network.
Expresso Cash
Expresso Cash is a smaller mobile money service operated by Expresso Telecom, providing basic P2P transfers and bill payments to a niche customer base.
Free Money
Free Money is the mobile money offering from Free Senegal's telecom network, holding approximately 5–10% of the market. It competes on price and network coverage, particularly in urban areas.
Orange Money
Orange Money is Orange Jordan's mobile wallet connected to CliQ under Central Bank of Jordan supervision, enabling online payments, transfers and bill payment. Est. users: Large telecom-backed user base (2024, best estimate).
JumiaPay
JumiaPay is the embedded wallet and checkout solution for the Jumia marketplace and bill payments across several African markets. Operator: Jumia Technologies AG. Est. users: ~5.4M Jumia active customers (2024).
EcobankPay
EcobankPay (via the Ecobank Mobile app) offers QR-based scan-to-pay and account payments across 33 African countries. Operator: Ecobank Transnational Inc. Est. users: 4M+ app users (multi-country).
All payment methods in Senegal
Discover 7 payment methods from around the world
Featured banks in Senegal
Major institutions operating in this market.
Société Générale
Paris, France
Société Générale is a leading European bank offering retail banking in France and Eastern Europe, plus global markets and investment banking services.
Attijariwafa Bank Morocco
Casablanca, Morocco
Attijariwafa Bank is Morocco's largest bank and one of Africa's top banking groups, with operations across Africa and Europe.
First Bank of Nigeria
Lagos, Nigeria
First Bank of Nigeria is the country's oldest bank (est. 1894) and a leading retail and commercial bank, with operations across Africa.
CBAO Groupe Attijariwafa Senegal
Dakar, Senegal
CBAO is Senegal's largest bank, part of the Attijariwafa Group, offering retail and corporate banking.
Other Banks — Senegal
Dakar, Senegal
Aggregate of remaining banks in Senegal, collectively ~75.0% of domestic banking assets.
All banks in Senegal
Showing 5 of 5 banks