At the end of December 2019, some 1,211,158 transactions valued at 621 billion FCFA were processed through the Regional System for the Gross Settlement of Systemically Important Transactions (STAR-UEMOA), according to the annual report on the financial market infrastructures, means and payment services of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) established by the Central Bank of African States of L& rsquo; West (BCEAO

Compared to the year 2018, when 924,404 transactions estimated at 512 billion FCFA were processed, there was an increase in volume of 31.02% and in value of 21.35%. “Inter-country trade within UEMOA amounted to 55,264 billion FCFA in 2019, representing 8.90% of the overall value of transactions processed in STARUEMOA”, underline the

Year-on-year, they report a favourable evolution of 57.36% in the value of inter-country operations. On the other hand, a downward trend was noted in the use of retail payment instruments (checks, transfers, levies, negotiable instruments) from 2018 to 2019. Thus, year-on-year, the value of transactions processed through the UEMOA Interbank Automatic Clearing System (SICA-UEMOA) fell by 1% from 2018 to 2019

In terms of numbers, the check (8,177,203) and the bank transfer (7,348,703) are the two most used payment instruments in SICA-UEMOA. They are also so in value with 40 683 billion FCFA and 6 685 billion FCFA respectively

With regard to transactions processed in the Automated Securities and Liquidity Management System of the West African Monetary Union (SAGETIL-UMOA), the BCEAO report indicates that during 2019, the number of transactions processed increased by 32.04% compared to the previous year. In value terms, transactions increased from 4,295 to 6,989 billion FCFA, representing a variation of 62.72%. According to Central Bank services, this growth is mainly linked to the increase in DVP (Delivery Versus Payment) type operations with 99.76% and DVF (Delivery Versus Free) with 21.43%

Among the highlights in 2019, there was the securing of platforms for connecting participants to the financial market infrastructures managed by the BCEAO. “The analysis of attempts and cases of fraud that have occurred in the last two years on the platforms of some participants has revealed that cybercriminals exploit vulnerabilities in information systems in order to carry out illicit transfers of funds,” the issuing institute points out. He adds that this situation generates incidents whose consequences can result in relatively significant financial losses for participants, disruptions in the execution of operations, and even the compromise of the business continuity of the victim institutions and an alteration of their image with an impact on public confidence in the financial system

“On this basis, the Central Bank, in its capacity as operator of the SAGETILUMOA, SICA-UEMOA and STAR-UEMOA Infrastructures, has defined minimum security rules and requirements for the platforms connecting participants,” reveal the services of the issuing institute.

The rules and requirements defined deal, among other things, with the obligation for participants to ensure the interfacing of their Banking Information Systems (BIS) with STAR-UEMOA in order to improve the processing times of customer transactions, to comply with conventional provisions concerning the charging of the accounts of recipients of interbank transfers by D+2 at the

According to the Central Bank services, following its deployment in 2019, the application of this system in 2020 by the participants will contribute to controlling the risks inherent in the insufficient security of the platforms connecting to the BCEAO financial market infrastructures.