Payment gateway for francophone West Africa
Boldrails is a licensed payment gateway provider for francophone West Africa. We acquire Orange Money, Wave, MTN Mobile Money and Moov Money directly, accept cards, and settle in local XOF or your home currency. We collect and disburse across the WAEMU/UEMOA region on one integration, with onboarding in 3 to 14 days.
- 8 WAEMU states + Cameroon edge
- Orange Money, Wave, MTN, Moov
- Settle XOF or global
- Onboarding 3 to 14 days
Last updated: 11 July 2026
The region
What is a payment gateway for francophone West Africa?
Boldrails is a licensed payment gateway built for francophone West Africa. The region is the WAEMU/UEMOA union: eight states that share the CFA franc (XOF) under the central bank BCEAO. They are Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo, Niger and Guinea-Bissau. We also cover the Cameroon edge, which uses the XAF franc.
We acquire and process the rails people actually pay with here. That means mobile money first, Orange Money and Wave above all, plus Visa and Mastercard for international buyers. We collect your payments, settle the funds, and disburse to your sellers and suppliers. You get one contract and one integration for the whole region.
We are the principal here. We hold the licences and run the acquiring, so you deal with us directly, not with a chain of resellers.
Rails and methods
Which payment methods and rails matter across WAEMU?
Mobile money is the dominant online rail across the region. Orange Money and Wave are the two you cannot skip in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. MTN Mobile Money and Moov Money extend your reach across the rest of WAEMU. Cards cover cross-border and international buyers. We acquire each rail directly.
| Rail | WAEMU countries covered | Pay-in | Pay-out | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orange Money | CI, SN, ML, BF, BJ + Cameroon edge | Yes | Yes | Primary consumer wallet |
| Wave | SN, CI, ML, BF | Yes | Yes | Low-fee flagship wallet |
| MTN Mobile Money | Select WAEMU markets + Cameroon edge | Yes | Yes | Second regional rail |
| Moov Money | CI, BJ, BF, TG, ML | Yes | Yes | Third rail, wide reach |
| Mixx by Yas, Airtel, Coris Money | Country-specific | Yes | Yes | Secondary wallets |
| Visa / Mastercard | All | Yes | No | International card buyers |
In francophone West Africa, aggregators typically charge 0.5% to 4% per transaction and force a separate contract per country. Boldrails is a licensed principal that acquires every major WAEMU rail (Orange Money, Wave, MTN, Moov) on one integration and settles in XOF or your home currency.
Settlement
How do we settle across West Africa: XOF and beyond?
We settle in local XOF or in a global currency such as USD or EUR. You choose. Settlement runs on a schedule or on request, whichever fits your cash flow.
This is the cross-border part that matters. You collect from wallets and cards inside the region, then we settle the money where your business banks. You collect in-region and settle to your home account without standing up a company in every market.
We also settle in stablecoin where you want a crypto-fiat option. You collect XOF and take settlement in stablecoin, or the reverse. Onboarding runs 3 to 14 days, depending on your case.
Payouts
Mass payouts and disbursements across UEMOA
We disburse to mobile-money wallets and bank accounts across UEMOA from the same integration you use to collect. Send one payout or a bulk file of thousands. The rails are the same ones you already accept: Orange Money, Wave, MTN and Moov.
This is how marketplaces pay sellers, how platforms pay gig workers and creators, and how companies settle suppliers. Without a regional gateway, each of those payout runs means a separate operator relationship per country. With Boldrails it is one API call.
One integration
One integration vs country-by-country fragmentation
Building the region yourself is slow. Each rail is a separate contract, a separate API key, and a separate legal relationship, and most of them are set up per country. The Orange operator API is country-by-country and merchant-gated. Wave keys are not portable across borders. Do that eight times and you have eight integrations to maintain before you take a single payment.
Boldrails replaces all of it with one integration and one settlement relationship. We hold the rail relationships and the licences, so you connect once and go live across WAEMU. When we add a rail or a country, you get it without new paperwork. This is the fastest way to launch in the region.
Who it's for
Who we serve and which verticals we accept
We serve high-volume and high-risk businesses, plus the developers who integrate us. That includes forex and CFD brokers, crypto platforms, e-commerce stores and marketplaces. We are built for high-risk verticals that mainstream aggregators turn away, including regulated iGaming operators.
- Forex and CFD brokers
- Crypto platforms and exchanges
- E-commerce stores and marketplaces
- Regulated iGaming operators
- Platforms paying gig workers and creators
- Developers integrating regional payments
We run KYB on every merchant. Acceptance for a specific vertical in a specific country depends on the local rules, so we confirm your case at onboarding rather than promise blanket coverage.
Licensing and compliance
Licensing and compliance in the BCEAO zone
We operate inside the region's own framework. WAEMU/UEMOA is supervised by the BCEAO, the shared central bank. E-money issuance in the zone falls under the BCEAO e-money framework. AML and CFT obligations follow the regional GIABA and BCEAO framework. Card acceptance follows the PCI DSS standard. The BCEAO has also introduced a regional interoperability switch that standardises electronic payments across UEMOA.
We hold the necessary licences required in the markets we serve. The table below shows the regulatory framework we operate within, not a list of our own registration numbers.
The regulatory framework we operate within:
| Market | Regulator / body | Framework we operate within |
|---|---|---|
| WAEMU/UEMOA (8 states) | BCEAO | E-money issuing framework |
| Regional AML/CFT | GIABA (ECOWAS) | Anti-money-laundering obligations |
| Card payments | PCI SSC | PCI DSS security standard |
| Merchant onboarding | Boldrails KYB | Know-your-business verification |
Sources: BCEAO; AfricaNenda SIIPS report; pandore.co (UEMOA online payments)
For developers
How developers integrate (API, sandbox, webhooks)
Integration is three steps:
- 1Create your account and get API keys.
- 2Connect our API and test every rail in the sandbox.
- 3Go live collecting and disbursing across the region.
We send signed webhooks on every event, so reconciliation stays automatic and you always know a payment's real status. Verify each signature to confirm the event came from us.
One API key set covers Orange Money, Wave, MTN and Moov. You do not wire each rail on your own.
Pricing
What does a regional gateway cost?
Aggregators in UEMOA typically charge 0.5% to 4% per transaction, and some add a fixed subscription. As a licensed principal we acquire the rails directly, so you skip the extra aggregation markup layer.
We share your Boldrails rate at onboarding, based on your rails, volume and risk profile.
Go live across francophone West Africa
Start your onboarding today and go live across the WAEMU region on one integration, with onboarding in 3 to 14 days.
FAQ
Payment gateway for francophone West Africa: FAQ
Last updated: 11 July 2026