How do people in Côte d’Ivoire pay online?
Most Ivorians pay from a mobile wallet. The BCEAO counted 99.6 million electronic money accounts in Côte d’Ivoire at the end of 2024, 40.07% of all accounts in the UEMOA. Of these, 26.4 million were active, meaning they made at least one transaction in the previous 90 days. They carried 2.55 billion transactions worth XOF 55,728 billion in 2024, the highest value of any country in the union.
Three wallets lead. The BCEAO lists Orange Money Côte d’Ivoire, MTN Mobile Financial Services Côte d’Ivoire and Moov Money Côte d’Ivoire as electronic money institutions, and Wave runs in the country through partnerships with UBA CI and Orabank CI. Wave has grown on low fees. Its country head said in March 2024 that Wave had more than 20 million accounts and nearly 150,000 merchants in Côte d’Ivoire. An April 2024 survey by the national statistics institute, reported by Ecomatin, put Wave at 31% of transfers and about 70% of merchant payments, with MTN MoMo at 23.5% of transfers.
Merchant payments are growing fast. Registered merchants rose from 1.13 million in 2023 to 2.72 million in 2024, which the BCEAO links to QR code payments. Online, each wallet has its own flow: Wave sends the shopper to a checkout link that opens the Wave app, while Orange Money asks for a one-time code that the customer generates in the USSD menu.
Cards are a small channel. Across the union, electronic money made up 98% of electronic payment transactions in 2024 and bank cards 1.74%. GIM-UEMOA, created in 2003 by the BCEAO and banks, runs the regional card scheme, card switching and an e-commerce gateway, next to Visa and Mastercard.
Instant payments now link banks and wallets. The BCEAO started live tests of its interoperable instant payment platform, PI-SPI, on 5 June 2025 and set the official launch for 30 September 2025. It connects banks, microfinance institutions and electronic money issuers, and runs 24 hours a day.
What rules shape online payments in Côte d’Ivoire?
Foreign digital sellers charge VAT. The standard rate is 18%. Non-resident suppliers of digital services to consumers in Côte d’Ivoire have owed VAT since 2022. A DGI explanatory note, No. 03949, published on 9 October 2023 and effective from 9 April 2024, extended the duty to sales to businesses and to online marketplaces. Returns are generally filed monthly by the 15th, and a non-resident platform that files late can have its access from Côte d’Ivoire suspended.
Digital income faces a new tax. The Tax Annex to Finance Law No. 2025-987, published on 31 December 2025, created a significant economic presence tax for non-resident digital businesses that earn at least XOF 50 million a year from Ivorian consumers. It is 30% of profits, capped at 10% of the revenue from services sold to Ivorian consumers, and applies on top of VAT.
Online buyers can return goods. Under Law No. 2016-412 of 15 June 2016 on consumption, a buyer in a distance sale has ten working days from delivery to return a product for exchange or refund, without penalty except the return costs. The seller must show its business name, phone number and head office address. If it does not, the ten days become three months.
Customer data needs ARTCI approval. Law No. 2013-450 of 19 June 2013 makes ARTCI the data protection authority. Most processing must be declared to ARTCI in advance, and transferring personal data outside the country needs ARTCI’s prior authorisation, even to a country with adequate protection.
Cross-border payments follow BCEAO rules. The CFA franc is pegged to the euro at XOF 655.957 per euro. BCEAO Instruction No. 01-07-2025/RFE, in force since 1 August 2025, governs payments to and from abroad and with non-residents, and requires approved intermediaries to detect attempts to split payments.
How would Omno route payments in Côte d’Ivoire?
Omno is built for markets with several strong wallets: a merchant connects once and sets routing rules per method, currency and customer group. In Côte d’Ivoire:
- Wave pay-ins would go to a provider with a Wave checkout connection, with the order pending until the webhook confirms the payment.
- Orange Money and MTN MoMo pay-ins can be offered in the hosted checkout next to Wave, each routed to a provider that holds that wallet.
- Card pay-ins can be routed by BIN, with cascading to the next provider in the rule if one is unavailable or rejects the request.
- Payouts can follow PSP eligibility rules, so money only goes through providers that support XOF transfers to the customer’s own wallet.
Webhooks would carry the final status of each payment, the record a back office should trust before shipping an order, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for several wallets. Wave, Orange Money and MTN MoMo each have large user bases, so a checkout that offers only one will miss many customers.
Plan for asynchronous results. Wallet payments wait for the customer to approve them on the phone or in the app, so orders need a pending state and webhook confirmation.
Plan for tax registration. Selling digital services to Ivorian customers means VAT registration and monthly returns, and the significant economic presence tax above XOF 50 million a year.
Plan for returns and data. Show the business details the consumption law requires, refund within the return window, and get ARTCI authorisation before sending customer data abroad.