Republic of Senegal
Ministry of Finance and Budget - Senegal
Artificial Intelligence: Building a Controlled and Inclusive Banking Transformation in WAEMU
Activités institutionnelles

Artificial Intelligence: Building a Controlled and Inclusive Banking Transformation in WAEMU

Artificial Intelligence: Building a Controlled and Inclusive Banking Transformation in #WAEMU

Dakar hosted the opening of the Sub-Regional Forum on Artificial Intelligence for Financial Inclusion and Banking Transformation in WAEMU on Thursday, 24 September 2026. Monetary authorities, regulators, professional associations, banking executives and financial-sector experts came together around a shared question:

How can AI be harnessed to improve access to financial services?

Representing Mr. Cheikh DIBA, Minister of Economy, Finance and Planning, the Ministry’s Secretary-General, Mr. Aliou Ndiaye, officially opened the proceedings. Organized by FAPBEF-WAEMU and Senegal’s APBEF, on the sidelines of the FABEF Executive Council meeting, the Forum was attended notably by the BCEAO National Director for Senegal, the President of FAPBEF, and the presidents of the Union’s professional banking associations.

In his remarks, Mr. Aliou Ndiaye highlighted the opportunities offered by AI to improve risk assessment, facilitate access to credit, combat fraud and strengthen customer relations. To ensure that these advances benefit as many people as possible, their deployment must be controlled, responsible and inclusive.

This ambition is fully aligned with the priorities of Senegal’s National Transformation Agenda 2050 and the #NewDeal for Technology, which place digital sovereignty and the integration of artificial intelligence among the country’s national priorities. Within this dynamic, the financial sector has a major role to play.

On behalf of the Minister, the Secretary-General also thanked the Union’s financial institutions for the quality of their partnership with the Government of Senegal. He reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to working, in close consultation with the BCEAO and all relevant stakeholders, to preserve the stability of the Union’s financial sector, which remains a valuable instrument of regional cooperation that must be safeguarded.