Sending money from France to Senegal: the payments stack
Sending EUR 140 from France to Senegal cost 2.41% of the amount on average in Q3 2025, across 17 services in the World Bank's Remittance Prices Worldwide survey. Payouts in Senegal typically run over PI-SPI, STAR-UEMOA (RTGS); between now and the end of 2027 there are 1 weekdays when banks in France are closed but Senegal keeps paying out, so the payout balance has to be funded before them.
| Average cost to send | 2.41% of EUR 140 (Q3 2025, World Bank RPW) source |
| Money transfer operators | 2.36% across 16 services |
| Collect in France | SEPA Instant Credit Transfer (SCT Inst), TIPS (TARGET Instant Payment Settlement), T2 (RTGS and CLM), SEPA Credit Transfer (SCT), CENTROlink |
| Pay out in Senegal | PI-SPI, STAR-UEMOA (RTGS), SICA-UEMOA |
What it costs to send EUR 140
The World Bank surveyed 17 services sending from France to Senegal from 24 July 2025 to 3 September 2025. The average total cost, fees plus the FX margin, was 2.41% of the amount sent; money transfer operators averaged 2.36%. source
Bank and operator averages are worked out from the survey's provider types.
The send side: France
- PSD2 sets initial capital for payment institutions at 20,000 euros for money remittance only, 50,000 euros for payment initiation and 125,000 euros for the services in points 1 to 5 of Annex I (Article 7). source
- An e-money institution must hold initial capital of at least 350,000 euros at authorisation (EMD2, Article 4). source
- A payment institution that wants to provide services in another Member State for the first time notifies its home competent authority of the Member States, the services and any agents or branches it will use (PSD2, Article 28); agents are entered in the home register before they start (Article 19). source
Licences, sponsor banks, collections, ramps and KYC providers: sending from the Eurozone.
The payout side: Senegal
| Payout partner | What it does in Senegal | Source |
|---|---|---|
| TerraPay · our guide | Partnered with UBA Senegal and Wave Digital Finance to deliver international remittances in real time into Wave wallets, and with Small World for instant transfers into Wave from the EU and UK. | source |
| dLocal · our guide | Payouts V3 sends XOF to Senegalese bank accounts by IBAN and to E-MONEY, FREE, ORANGE, WAVE and WIZALL MONEY wallets for B2C, B2B and P2P flows; funding in XOF or USD, paid out in CFA francs. | source |
| Flutterwave · our guide | Mobile money transfers API pays XOF to ORANGEMONEY and WAVE wallets in Senegal from a Flutterwave balance. | source |
| Wave Digital Finance | BCEAO-licensed e-money issuer in Senegal whose wallets receive international remittances through partners such as TerraPay. | source |
Licensing, local banks, stablecoin ramps, FX and KYC in Senegal: launching payments in Senegal.
Payout rails in Senegal
| Rail | Operator | What matters for payouts | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| PI-SPI | BCEAO | Interoperable instant payments between banks, microfinance institutions, e-money issuers and payment institutions across the eight UEMOA states, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with execution in under 10 seconds. | source |
| STAR-UEMOA (RTGS) | BCEAO | Exchange period from 08:00 to 17:20 UTC, with each participant holding a single settlement account in the BCEAO's books; settles SICA-UEMOA clearing balances. | source |
| SICA-UEMOA | BCEAO | Automated clearing for bulk payments with a FCFA 50 million cap per credit transfer (larger transfers go through STAR-UEMOA); transfers settle on the clearing day, in a single session per day. | source |
Holiday gaps to plan for, to December 2027
Weekdays when one side of the corridor is closed. On the 1 dates when France is closed and Senegal is open, the payout balance has to already hold enough to cover them. On the 6 dates when Senegal is closed, instant rails may still pay out.
| Date | France | Senegal | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 25 Dec 2026 | Christmas Day | Christmas Day | Both closed |
| Fri 1 Jan 2027 | New Year's Day | New Year's Day | Both closed |
| Wed 10 Mar 2027 | Open | Korite (Eid al-Fitr) | Senegal banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Fri 26 Mar 2027 | Good Friday | Open | Prefund Senegal the day before: no funding from France, payouts continue |
| Mon 29 Mar 2027 | Easter Monday | Easter Monday | Both closed |
| Thu 6 May 2027 | Open | Ascension Day | Senegal banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Mon 17 May 2027 | Open | Whit Monday, with Tabaski (Eid al-Adha) expected the same day | Senegal banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Wed 16 Jun 2027 | Open | Tamxarit (Ashura) | Senegal banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Fri 23 Jul 2027 | Open | Grand Magal de Touba | Senegal banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Mon 1 Nov 2027 | Open | All Saints' Day (Toussaint) | Senegal banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
Full calendars: Euro area (TARGET2/T2 and SEPA) and Senegal. Size the buffer with the corridor runway calculator.
Funding the corridor
- At the Bundesbank, T2 RTGS accepts customer payments from 02:30 to 17:00 and bank-to-bank payments from 02:30 to 18:00 on business days, so non-instant euro funding must be sent within those windows. source
- T2 has a non-optional maintenance window every week from 02:30 Saturday to 02:30 Monday, extended over TARGET closing days (for example from Good Friday to the Tuesday after Easter); when the optional weekday window (03:00 to 05:00) is activated, settlement of liquidity transfers in TIPS is affected while TIPS keeps processing instant payments. source
- The CFA franc is fixed at 655.957 per euro, so euro funding carries no exchange rate movement against the payout currency, while US dollar and other funding moves with market rates. source
- Residents must cede to an authorised intermediary all foreign currency income collected outside UEMOA or paid by a non-resident, and foreign currency held in UEMOA must be ceded or deposited with an authorised intermediary or the BCEAO (Regulation No 06/2024, Article 5). source
- Opening CFA franc or foreign currency accounts for non-residents at an authorised intermediary needs prior BCEAO authorisation (Article 6), which governs where a foreign sender can hold a local prefunding balance. source
Running the corridor
Polynopsis shows every balance on both sides of this corridor in one live position: the collection accounts in France, the payout partners and banks in Senegal and any stablecoin in between. It warns before the Senegal balance runs dry, holidays included. See how it works.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to send money from France to Senegal?
The World Bank's survey put the average total cost of sending EUR 140 at 2.41% in Q3 2025, across 17 services. Money transfer operators averaged 2.36%.
Which rails pay out in Senegal?
Local payouts run over PI-SPI, STAR-UEMOA (RTGS), SICA-UEMOA.
When do I need to prefund Senegal payouts ahead of holidays?
Between now and December 2027 there are 1 weekdays when France is closed and Senegal is open, the first on Fri 26 Mar 2027. The payout balance has to cover those days before they start.
Related corridors
Sources
- World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide dataset · World Bank
- T2 (opening hours and closing days) · European Central Bank
- TARGET Systems operating schedule, euro · European Central Bank
- Loi n 74-52 du 4 novembre 1974 relative a la fete nationale et aux fetes legales · Vie-Publique.sn
- Le manuel du travailleur, chapitre 5: fetes legales (Law 74-52 as amended in 1983 and 1989) · ILO NATLEX
Know where all your money is.
Polynopsis gives cross-border payment teams one live position across every bank, payout partner, exchange and wallet, including money in flight, and warns before a corridor runs dry.
About Polynopsis
Polynopsis is liquidity management software for cross-border payment companies. The name joins poly, many, and synopsis, a seeing together: one live view of money spread across many banks, payout partners, exchanges and stablecoin wallets, including money in flight, with a warning before any corridor runs dry.
Why it is called Polynopsis · About Polynopsis · Glossary · Corridor runway calculator