BCEAO Instruction No. 013-11-2015 Regulating Rapid Money Transfer Sub-Agent Activities in UEMOA

The Governor of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), Having regard to the Treaty of the West African Monetary Union (UMOA) of January 20, 2007, particularly Article 34; Having regard to the Statutes of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), annexed to the UMOA Treaty of January 20, 2007, particularly Articles 30 and 43; Having regard to the Convention of April 6, 2007 governing the Banking Commission of the West African Monetary Union; Having regard to Regulation No. 15/2002/CM/UEMOA of September 19, 2002 on payment systems in the member states of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, particularly Articles 4, 42, 131, and 247; Having regard to Regulation No. 09/2010/CM/UEMOA of October 1, 2010 on external financial relations of the member states of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, particularly Articles 1, 2, 4, 14 to 18, and Annex I thereof, Article 9; Having regard to the Uniform Act on banking regulation, particularly Articles 2, 3, 4, 7, and 106; Having regard to the Uniform Act on decentralized financial systems regulation, particularly Articles 6 and 36; Having regard to the Uniform Act on combating money laundering and terrorist financing; Having regard to the Uniform Act on litigation concerning infringements of external financial relations regulations in UEMOA member states, particularly Articles 2 and 4;

Avenue Abdoulaye FADIGA
BP 3108 – Dakar – Sénégal
Tel. (221) 33 839 05 00 / Fax. (221) 33 823 93 35 www.bceao.int INSTRUCTION NO. 013 – 11 – 2015 ON THE CONDITIONS FOR EXERCISING RAPID MONEY TRANSFER ACTIVITIES AS A SUB-AGENT WITHIN THE WEST AFRICAN MONETARY UNION

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DECIDES
Article 1: Definitions
For the purposes of this Instruction, the following terms shall mean:

• BCEAO or Central Bank: The Central Bank of West African States.
• Beneficiary: The person receiving the transferred funds.
• Service exclusivity clause: The stipulation by which a sub-agent commits to performing money transfer operations on behalf of a single principal.
• Client: The order-giver or beneficiary of a money transfer operation.
• Order-giver: The person who initiated the money transfer.
• Credit Institutions: Banks and financial institutions with a banking character, as defined by the banking regulation law.
• Approved Intermediary: A credit institution established in a member state of UEMOA and holding an approval as an intermediary issued by the Minister responsible for Finance.
• Principal: The approved intermediary or decentralized financial system that has signed a contract with a sub-agent, whereby the latter performs money transfer operations on its behalf.
• Authorized Providers: Persons authorized to provide rapid money transfer services in accordance with applicable regulations. Within UEMOA, authorized providers include approved intermediaries and decentralized financial systems that have obtained authorization to this effect.
• Sub-Agent or Agent: A natural or legal person exercising the rapid money transfer activity under the responsibility of an approved intermediary or a decentralized financial system.
• Decentralized Financial System (DFS): An institution whose main object is to offer financial services as defined by the law on decentralized financial systems.
• Rapid Money Transfer: The operation whereby a sum of money deposited by an order-giver at the counter of an authorized provider or sub-agent is delivered within a short period to a beneficiary, at another counter of an authorized provider or sub-agent, via a secure real-time or near-real-time information system. This operation does not involve bank accounts or electronic money accounts.
• UEMOA: West African Economic and Monetary Union.
• UMOA: West African Monetary Union.

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Article 2: Object
This Instruction aims to specify the conditions for exercising rapid money transfer activities as a sub-agent by natural or legal persons acting on behalf of approved intermediaries or decentralized financial systems.

Article 3: Contract between the Principal and the Sub-Agent
Approved intermediaries and decentralized financial systems sign a contract with each natural or legal person to whom they grant a mandate to exercise, on their behalf and under their full responsibility, the rapid money transfer activity. The contract specifies, in particular, the operations that the sub-agent is authorized to perform on behalf of the principal, as well as the responsibilities of the concerned parties in the execution of these operations. The contract must not contain a service exclusivity clause.

Article 4: Authorized Operations
Sub-agents may perform the following operations:

• sending funds received from clients;
• receiving funds and delivering them to beneficiaries.
  Sub-agents are expressly prohibited from collecting public funds in the form of deposits or performing any other banking operations, with the exception of rapid money transfer operations. This prohibition does not apply if the sub-agent is a decentralized financial system. The operations that sub-agents mandated by decentralized financial systems may perform are limited to the territories of UEMOA member states.

Article 5: Compliance with Regulations on External Financial Relations and Combating Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing
Sub-agents are subject to the provisions of regulations on external financial relations of UEMOA member states and on combating money laundering and terrorist financing. To this end, they comply in particular with provisions regarding transfer amount limits and supporting documentation. Sub-agents ensure the identity of order-givers as well as that of beneficiaries of rapid money transfers. Sub-agents issue to each client, subject to the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article, an operation slip which must include in particular:

• the beneficiary's identity;
• the order-giver's identity;
• the date of the operation;
• the transfer amount;

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• the applied exchange rate, where applicable;
• the name of the sub-agent's principal.

Article 6: Customer Information Obligations
Sub-agents display, visibly and legibly in their signage, the logos of their principals.
Sub-agents also display, visibly and legibly at their counters, the tariff conditions applied to customers.

Article 7: Notifications
By no later than thirty days from the end of each calendar year, approved intermediaries and decentralized financial systems notify the Ministry responsible for Finance, the UEMOA Banking Commission, and the BCEAO of the list of natural and legal persons mandated to exercise as sub-agents. Approved intermediaries and DFSs communicate to the Ministry responsible for Finance, the UEMOA Banking Commission, and the BCEAO the standard contract model to be signed with their agents. Any modification of this standard contract model must also be notified to the Authorities referred to in the preceding paragraph. Approved intermediaries and DFSs are required, upon request by the Ministry responsible for Finance, the UEMOA Banking Commission, and the BCEAO, to provide them with a copy of the contracts signed with their agents.

Article 8: Periodic Information to the Central Bank
Approved intermediaries and DFSs communicate monthly to the BCEAO information regarding rapid money transfer operations performed by their sub-agents. This information must cover in particular:

• the amounts, destinations, and purposes of outgoing transfers;
• the amounts, origins, and purposes of incoming transfers;
• the fees and commissions charged.
  The information mentioned in the first paragraph above is transmitted to the BCEAO by no later than twenty calendar days after the end of the relevant month, following a template communicated by the Central Bank.

Article 9: Principal's Responsibility
The principal must ensure strict compliance by each sub-agent it has mandated with the provisions of this Instruction.
It ensures that operations performed by the sub-agent are executed in accordance with regulatory prescriptions governing rapid money transfer activities in UEMOA.

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Article 10: Supervision/Control
The UEMOA Banking Commission, the BCEAO, and the Ministry responsible for Finance, within their respective supervisory roles regarding approved intermediaries and DFSs, may control the concerned sub-agents to ensure compliance with provisions governing rapid money transfer activities. Natural or legal persons exercising as sub-agents are required to submit to the aforementioned controls and provide, where necessary, any information required for the proper conduct of said controls. Infringements found are sanctioned in accordance with the banking regulation law, the decentralized financial systems regulation law, the law on litigation concerning infringements of external financial relations regulations in UEMOA member states, as well as the law on combating money laundering and terrorist financing, without prejudice to any other applicable legislative and regulatory provisions in the member state of establishment.

Article 11: Transitional Provisions
Authorized providers and their sub-agents have a period of six months, from the date of entry into force, to comply with the provisions of this Instruction.
Natural and legal persons exercising rapid money transfer activities without being able to justify the status of authorized provider or sub-agent also have a period of six months, from the date of entry into force of this Instruction, to comply with the legal and regulatory provisions governing said activity. Any failure to comply with the provisions of this paragraph is subject to the criminal sanctions provided for by the regulations referred to in Article 10 above.

Article 12: Final Provisions
This Instruction repeals and replaces all prior contrary provisions dealing with the same subject matter.
It enters into force on the date of its signature and shall be published wherever necessary.
Done in Dakar, on November 10, 2015
Tiémoko Meyliet KONE