Interoperable person-to-person transfers in Togo must go through PI-SPI, the instant payment platform of the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO). The requirement took effect on November 2, 2026. Domestic transfers are free up to a cumulative daily total of CFAF 8,000 per participant. Receiving money is free, regardless of the amount.
Mixx became the first Togolese mobile wallet to join the platform in April 2026. Other institutions operating in Togo have since joined. A total of 17 financial institutions are authorized to offer the service in the country. At the end of June, Mixx had 3.12 million accounts, representing 56% of Togo’s mobile money market, according to the Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques et des Postes (ARCEP), the country’s telecommunications and postal regulator.
Mixx itself is also changing. Previously part of telecom operator Togocom, now Yas Togo, the service is now run by a separate company with its own governance and a BCEAO license to operate as an electronic money institution. In September, the brand shortened its name from “Mixx by Yas” to “Mixx” to establish a more distinct identity as a financial services provider within the pan-African Axian group, itself now known as Yas.
Catherine Savery at the Helm
A banker by training, Savery worked as a bank auditor at Natixis in Paris and London before moving into private banking in Europe and then retail banking at a BPCE subsidiary in Madagascar. She joined Axian in 2018 and later asked to move to Togo. She spoke with Togo First at the company’s offices.
Togo First: Mixx joined the BCEAO’s PI-SPI platform in April. What practical difference does that make for individual customers and merchants in Togo?
Catherine Savery: PI-SPI is an excellent service. The central bank has developed a platform that connects financial institutions and is transforming transfers and other financial transactions, well beyond mobile money. In practice, individuals can now use their Mixx mobile wallets to send and receive money across all eight countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA): Togo, Senegal, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Niger and Benin. Transfers are instant, just like domestic transactions, and use an alias.
Take this example. You bank with Ecobank Togo, and your family in Senegal has a wallet with Mixx Senegal, our sister company within the group. You can send money from your bank account to that mobile wallet. From my office, I can use my Mixx Togo wallet to send money to Orange Money in Côte d’Ivoire. All it takes is an alias. Every financial institution connected to PI-SPI can transact with the others, including banks, microfinance institutions, payment institutions and electronic money issuers.
The same principle applies to merchants. A fabric seller has a PI-SPI QR code. A customer visiting from Burkina Faso scans it and pays, and the merchant receives the money immediately. That merchant can then pay her Senegalese supplier using his PI-SPI alias. He receives the funds within a minute and can ship the goods. That is how PI-SPI works.
Togo First: You mentioned aliases. What exactly are they, and how do your customers get one?
Catherine Savery: You need an alias to send money or make a payment. You can receive money without having one.
An alias is simply your unique identifier on the PI-SPI platform. It can be your phone number or a combination of letters and numbers known as a “payment address.” It allows people to make transactions without sharing their bank account details, using an alias instead.
At Mixx Togo, we let customers create their own aliases. When users open the app without one, a pop-up offers to generate it. It takes just two steps, and they are free to accept or decline. Once they have that identifier, they can send money to a bank account, another mobile wallet or an account at a microfinance institution anywhere in UEMOA.
Togo First: What early figures can you share on PI-SPI use among Mixx customers?
Catherine Savery: In the first three months, we processed nearly 39,000 transactions worth about CFAF 3 billion. Adoption is growing gradually. That is why we talk about PI-SPI so much: we find that users still do not know enough about it, despite our online outreach, tutorials and guidance. The central bank has reached the same conclusion and is encouraging mobile money operators, banks and microfinance institutions to do more to explain the service. This is happening everywhere, not just in Togo. PI-SPI is the BCEAO’s flagship project, and it wants every connected institution to do more to promote it.
“We find that users still do not know enough about the service, despite our online outreach, tutorials and guidance. We need to do more to explain it.”
Togo First: Let’s turn to fees, which play a major role in adoption. What does an individual in Togo pay today for domestic and regional transfers?
Catherine Savery: There are two situations to consider. The first is sending money within Togo or to another country in the union. Starting November 2, 2026, these transfers will be free up to a cumulative daily total of CFAF 8,000. Above that threshold, a fee of 0.8%, excluding tax, will apply to the transfer amount.
The second is receiving money from another country in the union. That is free. If you receive money from Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire or Benin, you pay nothing.
These rules on fees and free transfers are set by the central bank. They are not commercial decisions we make ourselves. PI-SPI is regulated, including its pricing.
Togo First: What about merchants? Is there a charge for payments, and who pays it?
Catherine Savery: Even before we get to pricing, rolling out the service is a huge undertaking. We have 26,000 merchants, and since joining PI-SPI, we have had to provide all of them with a PI-SPI QR code. Without it, they cannot use the service. The rollout in Togo fell behind, and we are catching up.
On pricing, the regulator allows fees for merchant payments. So we need to distinguish between sending money to another person and paying a merchant for a purchase.
At Mixx, customers pay nothing. Someone who pays a restaurant bill by scanning the QR code incurs no fee. The merchant pays 1%, excluding tax. Merchant payments are available in the other countries of the union as well.
That 1% gives merchants the ability to accept payments and access a package of related services, including free cash withdrawals.
“Customers who pay for purchases by scanning the QR code incur no fee. At Mixx, the merchant pays 1%, excluding tax.”
Togo First: Merchants often complain that payments take days, or even weeks, to settle. Has that been resolved?
Catherine Savery: Yes. With the QR code, payment is instant everywhere, and it works the same way for everyone. Merchants receive their money in real time. They no longer have to wait weeks for settlement. It is an instant payment, just like a transfer.
Togo First: Another complaint is that some merchants refuse mobile money payments because dishonest customers request a reversal after paying and recover the funds. Does that risk exist with your service?
Catherine Savery: Payments cannot be reversed on Mitoui Chap, our merchant payment brand. If I eat at a restaurant and pay the owner using a Mitoui Chap QR code, I cannot then reverse that payment. It simply is not possible. Merchant payments are secure.
“Payments cannot be reversed on Mitoui Chap. If I eat at a restaurant and pay the owner using a QR code, I cannot then reverse that payment.”
Togo First: Mixx is now a separate company with its own governance and license. What practical difference does that independence make for customers and partners?
Catherine Savery: Four things. First, it gives customers and partners greater confidence: we are licensed and directly regulated by the BCEAO, with the security, regulatory compliance, trust and transparency that entails. Second, we can develop products faster and respond more quickly to customers’ needs.
Third, our status as an electronic money institution allows us to participate in all the central bank’s major projects. We could only join PI-SPI because we were a company in our own right. All future BCEAO projects will be open to us.
Finally, independence allows us to serve customers across all mobile networks. We are no longer limited to one operator. We already serve customers this way.
Togo First: With payments becoming interoperable, how does Mixx intend to stand out from its competitors?
Catherine Savery: By expanding what customers can do with Mixx and developing products that offer them more value: digital credit, savings, and services for merchants and small and medium-sized enterprises. But our electronic money issuer license does not allow us to lend or take savings deposits ourselves. We have to work through a bank.
That does not mean we sit back and wait for a bank to transform its business. We are building partnerships. We will work with banks that are furthest along in digital services, move fastest and are most willing to serve the broader population. We serve the mass market. Traditional banks tend to focus on more affluent customers.
“Our license does not allow us to lend or take savings deposits ourselves. We will work with banks that are furthest along in digital services, move fastest and are most willing to serve the broader population.”
Togo First: Axian is moving into digital banking and already operates in that market in Madagascar. Could Mixx Togo follow that path?
Catherine Savery: The group is exploring these new lines of business, and we are waiting to see the results. In other subsidiaries, the group does not operate as a digital bank and has no plans to become one because partnerships with existing banks are working very well.
It will depend on what Togo needs and on Togolese banks’ ability to digitize their operations and work with us to offer services that as many people as possible can use. Banks need to fundamentally change how they operate to go digital.
Togo First: Safaricom’s experience in Kenya suggests a mobile money operator can eventually sideline banks in the mass market. Is that a scenario you envisage?
Catherine Savery: Not at the moment. We remain focused on partnerships. Safaricom may have succeeded in competing with banks, but Kenya is a different market, one that is much further along in adopting digital services than ours today. That could perhaps happen here at a later stage, several years from now. Not immediately.
Togo First: How do you prepare for the arrival of competitors that slash prices and change the way people use financial services?
Catherine Savery: That is the challenge in our business: anticipating changes, keeping track of developments and responding. Fintech is constantly changing. It is not like a traditional institution where, once something is established, it changes little or very slowly. We try things. If they work, great. If they do not, we have 10,000 other ideas. That is how we stay flexible and keep innovating.
Togo First: Mobile money operators are increasingly adding Visa or Mastercard cards to their services. Is that an option for you?
Catherine Savery: It is something we are exploring. We will see what is decided.
Togo First: Despite progress in financial inclusion in Togo, part of the population still lacks access to financial services. What do you see as the main obstacles?
Catherine Savery: The progress in financial inclusion is encouraging, but obstacles remain, and that is true across the continent. There are gaps in network coverage and problems with infrastructure quality. Some people do not trust digital financial services, which holds back adoption. Limited literacy and financial education are also obstacles in the most remote areas. And building a viable business model in some underserved communities is difficult.
We are planning corporate social responsibility initiatives in those areas to introduce people to digital payments, teach them how to use the services, and help them learn to save and manage a budget.
Togo First: What will Mixx look like in five years? A fully fledged financial institution, an everyday super app, or something else?
Catherine Savery: Mixx will be THE name in financial services in Togo, with the emphasis firmly on “the.” We will have a super app for everything in daily life, one you will leave open on your phone all the time. It will be Togo’s “Revolut,” a personal assistant for people across Togo. Look at Revolut: its range of services is so broad that you even use it to check the weather.
“Mixx will be THE name in financial services in Togo, with a super app you will leave open on your phone all the time. It will be Togo’s Revolut, a personal assistant for people across Togo.”
Togo First: That requires investment. Has it begun, and how much is involved?
Catherine Savery: It has begun, with substantial amounts invested every year. That is clearly our ambition, now and in the years ahead.
Togo First: You trained as a banker. What brought you to the helm of Mixx Togo at this particular moment?
Catherine Savery: My background is in banking and auditing. I know where to set limits and how to design secure processes for customers. I started as a bank auditor at Natixis in Paris and London. That work took me to several continents and introduced me to different banking models.
I then moved into private banking, mainly in Europe, followed by retail banking at a BPCE subsidiary in Madagascar. That gave me experience with the different customer segments banks serve. When I joined Axian in 2018, I discovered telecoms and mobile money. Taking part in this transformation was a natural next step.
I like setting things up, building them and making things happen. Mixx Togo has reached a milestone: we now operate across the subregion, having previously served only the domestic market, and we are the first Togolese electronic money institution to have won the support of an entire country. What better time to be here?
Togo First: What gets you out of bed in the morning?
Catherine Savery: Expanding access to financial services through Mixx Togo. We offer services and products, but ultimately, what are they for? They allow a father or mother in a remote Togolese village to send money, make payments and shop easily, without needing a bank, without barriers and without restrictions. They serve communities where people would not even qualify to open a bank account.
That is part of Mixx Togo’s DNA. We are not pursuing impact for its own sake. Our impact is real, and we are committed to bringing financial services to as many people as possible.
“A father or mother in a remote village must be able to send money, make payments and shop without needing a bank and without barriers. That is part of Mixx Togo’s DNA.”
Togo First: How have you found Togo?
Catherine Savery: It is a beautiful country, and I was the one who asked to come here. The government has ambitious plans to digitize public services. It is fantastic: the transformation I have been talking about has support at the highest level. The country is changing, and many ministries are working to ensure people in remote communities are included. That fits perfectly with my mission.
Togo First: Any final message?
Catherine Savery: Use PI-SPI. It is an excellent service developed by the central bank that connects us with other UEMOA countries. And before you ask: no, we do not make much money from PI-SPI. But it is so inclusive, innovative and powerful that people in Togo need to use it, just like people across the subregion. Individuals and financial institutions need to connect to PI-SPI.
Interview by Fiacre E. Kakpo