Banks in Niger

The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) provides the common monetary and regulatory framework for Niger. The UMOA Banking Commission licenses, supervises, sanctions and resolves covered institutions. Niger's Ministry of Finance serves as the national interface. OQSF-NE provides financial-service information and consumer awareness. The UMOA Deposit Guarantee and Resolution Fund covers eligible deposit customers of licensed credit institutions and savings and credit institutions, but the available research does not state the compensation limit or confirm a separate Niger-specific banking ombudsman. As of 29 June 2026, Niger had 14 banks and 6 other financial institutions with a banking character, for 20 credit institutions in total. The banks were BANK OF AFRICA - NIGER, BANQUE AGRICOLE DU NIGER, BANQUE ATLANTIQUE NIGER, BANQUE COMMERCIALE DU NIGER, BANQUE DE L'HABITAT DU NIGER, BANQUE INTERNATIONALE POUR L'AFRIQUE AU NIGER, BANQUE ISLAMIQUE DU NIGER, BSIC - NIGER, ECOBANK - NIGER, SOCIETE NIGERIENNE DE BANQUE, BRM Succursale du Niger, CBAO Succursale du Niger, CORIS BANK INTERNATIONAL Succursale du Niger and ORABANK - COTE D'IVOIRE Succursale du Niger. The six other institutions were SAHFI, AL-IZZA-TRANSFERT D'ARGENT INTERNATIONAL, AMANA TRANSFERT D'ARGENT ET FINANCE, BNIF AFUWA, NITA and ZEYNA. Savings and credit institutions, commonly called SFDs or microfinance institutions, provide a functional alternative for savings and payment access but are not legally identical to banks. Niger recorded 40 SFDs in 2024. Four large Article-44 institutions were explicitly listed: ACEP NIGER SA, ASUSU SA, CAPITAL FINANCE and MCPEC. An available sample of eight SFDs covered 102 service points, 310,518 clients and deposits of 26,425.3 million FCFA. The regional framework uses a common FCFA currency and harmonized banking law. Since 1 January 1999, a single approval system has supported cross-border establishment and freedom of operation within UMOA. SICA-UEMOA clears retail transfers, cheques, bills of exchange, promissory notes and direct debits. FCFA transfers through this retail system have a maximum of 50 million FCFA. STAR-UEMOA handles high-value and urgent payments, while GIM-UEMOA supports regional bank cards and electronic payment services. Customers can use a branch or counter, an ATM, an SFD, a mobile-money agent, an app or USSD service. Banks and other regulated providers apply customer-identification and anti-money-laundering controls. They may verify the beneficial owner of an account or transaction. A remote relationship normally requires verification before the first transaction. The precise identity documents, application requirements and minimum deposit depend on the institution and product, so Niger has no single documented account-opening procedure for every provider. Common products include a current or transaction account, a savings account or livret d'épargne, and, where offered, a term deposit or bons de caisse. A mobile wallet is electronic money, not automatically a bank account. As of 28 February 2026, AIRTEL NIGER/AIRTEL MONEY was the listed electronic-money institution, and iFUTUR also appeared as a payment institution. Recorded bank and telecommunications partnerships included BOA-NIGER with ORANGE NIGER, Banque Atlantique Niger with ATLANTIQUE TELECOM and MOOV FLOOZ, ECOBANK NIGER and BIA NIGER with WAVE, CORIS NIGER with M2I and CORIS MONEY, NITA with 2ISOFT and MyNITA, AMANA with 2ISOFT and AMANATA, and AL IZZA with AL IZZA BUSINESS PAY. Mobile money has wide practical reach despite limited formal access. In 2024, Niger recorded 9,746,822 mobile-money accounts, of which 441,764 had been active during the previous 90 days, representing 4.53 percent. There were 135,564 service points and 39,263 active service points, with an estimated transaction value of about 480 billion FCFA. Bank-to-wallet links and agents therefore matter greatly for access outside branches. Around 70 percent of ATMs were located in Niamey. Recorded card use was 77.8 percent among men and 22.2 percent among women. A 2022 digital-economy assessment found that 36 percent of the population and 41 percent of small and medium-sized enterprises were integrated into the digital economy, with rural financial literacy, telecommunications and financial infrastructure limiting wider use. Since 1 October 2014, 19 core banking services have been free across UMOA. They include opening and closing an account, issuing and maintaining a savings book, one monthly account statement, an annual fee summary, cash deposits and withdrawals at the customer's own bank, salary domiciliation, changes to identity details, setting up standing orders or direct debits, withdrawals and balance or transaction-history checks at the bank's own ATM, internal bank transfers, card payments within UMOA, cheque collection, credits from national, regional and international transfers, and electronic debit or credit notifications. Other charges depend on the institution and product. Current tariffs and banking conditions should be checked directly because the available research does not establish uniform processing deadlines. Banks, SFDs, electronic-money institutions and payment institutions must apply controls against money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing. Customers should use official channels, keep their receipts and transaction identification numbers, and never disclose a PIN or one-time password. Phishing, SIM-swap attacks, agent or cash fraud, network failures and ATM outages can interrupt or compromise a payment. A complaint normally starts with the relevant bank, SFD or electronic-money institution. Customers of supervised institutions can also use the Commission Bancaire UMOA's E-Réclamations service, while OQSF-NE provides local information and awareness support. Complaint procedures and deadlines remain institution-specific.