Bridging

Global Finance: Please describe BSIC Group and why the Sénégal subsidiary is important to its African strategy.

Sami Gargouri: BSIC Group, or the Banque Sahélo-Saharienne pour l’Investissement et le Commerce, is a pan-African public bank established in 1999 as a key institution of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD). Headquartered in Tripoli, Libya, it is owned by the governments of 14 African nations, including Libya (majority stakeholder), Senegal, Cóte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Guinea Conakry, Togo,  Central African Republic (CAR), Niger, Sudan, Ghana, and 2 representative offices in Morocco and Tunisia, with a focus on mobilizing public and private financial resources to drive economic and social development, combat poverty, and boost intra-regional trade across the Sahel-Sahara zone. Operating as both a commercial and investment bank, BSIC offers services ranging from loans and asset management (BSIC Capital) to trade financing, supporting SMEs, agro-industry, and cross-border commerce. Its strategy emphasizes regional integration, financial inclusion, and innovation to foster growth in underserved areas, aligning with CEN-SAD’s goals of poverty alleviation and economic unity.

The Senegal subsidiary, BSIC Sénégal SA, is pivotal to this African strategy due to its location in a stable, dynamic West African economy with strong a entrepreneurial ecosystemand high mobile money penetration. Launched in Dakar, it serves over 50,000 clients through a network of branches in key areas like Thiès, Mbour, Saint Louis, Touba and Kaolack, channeling resources into local sectors such as agriculture, SMEs, and exports directly supporting BSIC’s mission of intra-regional trade. As a bridge between French- and English-speaking Africa, BSIC Sénégal enhances the group’s diversification, gains market share in Senegal’s competitive banking sector (aiming for top rankings), and tests scalable innovations that can be rolled out group-wide, amplifying BSIC’s role as a pan-African development engine.

GF: How has BSIC Sénégal become an innovation hub for the group?

SG: BSIC Sénégal has evolved into an innovation hub for the BSIC Group by leveraging customer insights, a test-and-learn approach, and cross-functional collaboration to pioneer digital solutions tailored to West Africa’s mobile-first economy. Since its establishment, the subsidiary has prioritized digitalization, drawing from direct feedback from SMEs and merchants during meetings to address pain points like payment delays and limited access to diverse transaction channels. This led to the creation of a dedicated project management office involving departments such as Marketing, IT, Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Logistics, alongside fintech partners for seamless API integrations—enabling rapid prototyping and deployment of products like the SMART TPE in November 2023.

BSIC Sénégal has positioned itself as a dynamic player, launching innovative offers that combine digital tools with client-centric design, such as enhanced Visa cards, a dealing room for economic operators, and mobile payment expansions resulting in market share gains and improved client experiences. Its pilot-to-scale model, starting with select merchants before group-wide rollout, has made it a testing ground for group initiatives. This approach fosters financial inclusion, serves as a model for other subsidiaries in digital transformation and SME support, and solidifies Sénégal’s role in BSIC’s pan-African innovation ecosystem.

GF: What is SMART TPE and how is it part of the BSIC Group’s digital transformation?

SG: SMART TPE (Smart Terminal de Paiement Électronique) is an innovative electronic payment terminal launched by BSIC Sénégal in November 2023, designed to enhance financial inclusion and merchant efficiency in mobile money-dominant markets. It transforms traditional card-based POS terminals into versatile devices that offer customers dual payment options: bank card or mobile money via operators like Orange Money or Wave. When a customer selects mobile money, the terminal displays operator choices and generates a QR code for instant scanning and transaction completion – ensuring funds deposit directly into the merchant’s BSIC account within the same day, bypassing multi-day delays from direct operator payouts. This first-of-its-kind integration on existing POS disrupts the status quo by empowering merchants with better cash management, reduced commissions, and diversified payment channels. It leverages fintech APIs for quick, secure development – ultimately boosting sales by 30-50% in pilots and simplifying user experiences for both merchants and non-banked customers.

As a cornerstone of BSIC Group’s digital transformation, SMART TPE exemplifies the group’s shift toward tech-driven inclusion, born from customer needs and deployed via a collaborative pilot involving IT, monetics, and fintech. It supports BSIC’s broader strategy of digitalizing services across subsidiaries – enhancing API ecosystems, combating fraud, and scaling mobile solutions regionally—to make banking more accessible, efficient, and aligned with Africa’s fintech boom, while advancing goals of poverty reduction and economic growth.