By Gildas Ayikpe, Director of Digital Banking, Communication and Marketing, Banque Internationale pour l’Industrie et le Commerce (BIIC)
On November 11, 2024, Banque Internationale pour l’Industrie et le Commerce (BIIC) and MTN Mobile Money (MoMo), one of Africa’s leading mobile-money services, jointly announced the launch of an exciting, cutting-edge service that enables customers to transfer money instantly between their BIIC bank accounts and their mobile wallets. This innovation represents the latest in a fast-growing lineup of widely lauded solutions from the Benin-based lender that underscores its unwavering commitment towards boosting financial inclusion.
BIIC is succeeding in bolstering financial inclusion and streamlining domestic payment flows like few others in the regional market.
The product of a hugely significant merger between the African Bank for Industry and Commerce (BAIC) and the International Bank of Benin for the Economy (BIBE) in 2020, BIIC has grown at a formidable rate since then to become an indispensable player in Benin’s banking sector. This momentum recently culminated in its listing on the Regional Securities Exchange (Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières, or BRVM), marking a new milestone in its development and financial transparency. With a resolute focus on delivering pioneering digital solutions to the unbanked and underbanked segments of the wider public—particularly through the seamless integration of key digital banking services and leading mobile-wallet services—BIIC is succeeding in bolstering financial inclusion and streamlining domestic payment flows like few others in the regional market.
In a country with just 49 percent account ownership among the adult population (according to 2021 figures from the World Bank), extending crucial financial services to those unbanked members of Benin’s population remains a profound objective for the local banking sector. This has especially been the case for BIIC, which until February was majority state-owned and therefore worked to align its strategy with the government’s objectives for promoting national economic growth and development. The sale of 40 percent of the state’s stake in the bank notwithstanding, BIIC remains undeterred in striving to achieve its financial-inclusion objectives.
BIIC Mobile: seamless, secure banking on the move
With Benin’s high mobile penetration rate of 93.6 percent indicating that the overwhelming bulk of the population has access to mobile connections, the pursuit of innovative mobile-banking solutions seems only logical to serve the people better. As such, BIIC is allocating a hefty share of its resources towards delivering state-of-the-art digital-banking offerings that customers can conveniently access via their mobile devices—and is happy to collaborate with leading mobile-money service providers to advance its goals.
Designed to simplify daily financial management, for instance, the solution allows users to complete transfers without having to visit a branch. By combining BIIC’s traditional banking services with MTN Mobile Money’s mobile payment solutions, even customers living in remote areas without much real-world access to traditional banking channels can now conveniently manage their financial affairs autonomously and efficiently from their mobile phones.
To access this particular service, customers must first subscribe remotely or at a BIIC agency, after which they can use their mobile devices to link their BIIC accounts to their MTN Mobile Money accounts to make instant and secure money transfers, specifically by dialling *880#, then selecting option 7.
“With this service, BIIC and MTN Mobile Money reaffirm their key role in promoting financial inclusion, by reducing the barriers to access to financial services for all,” the two partners announced at the launch. “Thanks to this innovation, even populations living in remote areas can now manage their finances autonomously and efficiently from their mobile phone. This service represents a major step forward towards more inclusive, secure finance, adapted to the daily realities of each user.” Since then, BIIC has also highlighted the value of such a strategic partnership as a reaffirmation of the bank’s commitment to providing customers with innovative and accessible services.
What’s more, MTN Mobile Money is not the only mobile-wallet service with which BIIC has joined forces in recent times. On the contrary, customers can use their devices to conveniently and securely transfer money between their BIIC bank accounts and their Moov Money and Celtiis cash-mobile accounts using similar methods. Together with the Moov Money solution, therefore, these three innovations are proving to be pivotal mobile-money services for executing transfers, bill payments, payments for goods and services, and many more essential banking tasks.
The launch of BIIC’s Push & Pull service which enables users to link their mobile wallets directly to their BIIC bank accounts
BIIC’s Push & Pull service also allows users to link their mobile accounts to their BIIC bank accounts. This service is especially useful for transferring remittances from a BIIC account to a corresponding mobile-money account, and vice versa. As such, accessing essential banking services has never been easier for people and businesses all across Benin.
The BIIC Mobile application only further adds to the bank’s impressive suite of accessible digital-banking options, offering customers a seamless, secure and intuitive experience to manage their accounts no matter where they are located. They can also execute transactions 24/7 with low fees and transparent pricing, all of which is proving attractive to previously unbanked and underbanked communities.
On the security front, users gain access to the app’s features through biometric authentication, such as Touch ID or Face ID, as well as the memorisation of identifiers and password-recovery requirements should they forget their vital login details. Customers can thus securely transfer their own funds between their BIIC accounts, to other users’ BIIC accounts and to other banks, as well as schedule recurring transfers and formally track their transactions.
To manage their finances, meanwhile, customers can view their balances in real-time and receive detailed breakdowns of their banking histories. They can also quickly download statements and account extracts and instantly edit and share key banking details to allow payments to be received. Low fees, transparent pricing, real-time tracking of payments and transfers, and geolocation searches of the nearest BIIC agencies and distributors are all part and parcel of the mobile-banking app.
BIIC’s financial-inclusion mandate also extends to Benin’s flourishing community of small businesses, with many still lacking essential financial services and the convenience of digital banking to drive business growth.
BIIC’s financial-inclusion mandate also extends to Benin’s flourishing community of small businesses, with many still lacking essential financial services and the convenience of digital banking to drive business growth. BIIC has taken bold steps in recent times to rectify this shortfall and offer as much support to SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) as is feasible. PME BOOST, for example, is proving hugely important in positioning the bank as Benin’s SME lender of choice. A multi-product solution available to Beninese SMEs and SMIs (small and medium-sized industries), this programme enables such enterprises “to develop their productivity and profitability, increase their potential and competitiveness in order to establish their sovereignty and sustainability”, according to the bank.
As part of PME BOOST, moreover, the bank makes “product programs (PPs)” available for all types of financing for its business customers. Such PPs include innovative solutions for efficient operations, providing access to key investment opportunities, and tailormade import and export solutions to help simplify global trade for its customers.
BIIC’s May 8 announcement of the securement of a portfolio-guarantee line worth 15 billion FCFA (approximately US$26.4 million) from the African Guarantee Fund (AGF) in support of Benin’s private sector further demonstrates the sheer quality of its support for small businesses. “Thanks to the support of the AGF’s risk-sharing mechanism, BIIC has granted nearly 18 billion FCFA in loans,” the bank explained. “Under these credit facilities, AGF has supported a total of 112 SMEs to the tune of 4.2 billion FCFA. The current loan portfolio stands at 10 billion FCFA. To date, this partnership has created jobs, some of which are held by women and others by young people.”
Again, the ability to achieve critical financing solutions for nascent businesses highlights BIIC’s remarkable devotion towards bolstering financial inclusion. The new agreement, moreover, extends the credit-guarantee scheme provided by AGF to BIIC from the current 5 billion FCFA to 15 billion FCFA for a period of five years, with the goal of facilitating access to financing for Beninese and regional SMEs and SMIs, particularly those that lack sufficient collateral to access traditional bank loans.
Mr. Arsène Dansou, Managing Director and CEO, Banque Internationale pour l’Industrie et le Commerce (BIIC)
“SMEs and SMIs are the backbone of the economy, especially in developing countries, where they contribute to job creation and income generation. Their impact is even greater in Benin, where they represent 90 percent of the industrial sector,” the bank noted. BIIC’s chief executive officer, Arsène Dansou, also hailed the new arrangement as important for demonstrating “the rigor of our commitment and the leading role that BIIC plays in SME financing, with particular attention to women entrepreneurs”.
Indeed, female empowerment plays a central role throughout BIIC’s financial-inclusion strategy. Under its Product Financing programmes, for instance, the bank strives to offer preferential terms for SMEs managed by women. Beyond expanding the credit-guarantee scheme, the AGF will also provide technical assistance to BIIC to strengthen its SME-financing capacity, with the bank confirming that particular attention will be paid to women-led businesses via specific support aimed at “structuring a pipeline of women-owned SMEs ready to access credit”.
The success of BIIC Avec Elles, moreover, has provided crucial integrated support for women-led SMEs in the two years since this flagship programme was launched. It has provided not only access to key financing facilities but also mentorship, legal literacy and market access—as well as support and supervision from professionals, such as notaries, insurers, lawyers and chartered accountants—to companies run by women or those with predominantly female staff.
Celebrating two phenomenally successful years of BIIC Avec Elles on March 22, BIIC used the occasion to announce three new initiatives to strengthen the programme.
- The addition of two new partners: the EtriLabs incubator and the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP).
- With the new cohort, the programme has 30-plus companies on board, with a portfolio that has grown from 2.4 billion FCFA to 3.2 billion FCFA.
- A new digital platform is now dedicated to BIIC Avec Elles, which supports women entrepreneurs; promotes networking; provides access to mentoring, training and skills resources; facilitates the submission of funding applications; and hosts commercial showcases.
The programme has even garnered praise from Modeste Kerekou, Benin’s minister of small and medium enterprises and employment promotion, “who saw it as a practical implementation of the President of the Republic’s vision to see a cohort of SMEs flourish,” the bank noted.
March 2025 also saw BIIC participating in the first edition of Le Bénin se rev’elles, which the bank described as “a major initiative for women’s empowerment”. The event brought together leaders, executives and inspiring women to speak, and it provided CEO Dansou with the opportunity to showcase BIIC’s strong dedication to supporting the continued improvement of women’s professional empowerment through funding initiatives and support activities.
Truth be told, however, women’s empowerment represents just one key focus area within BIIC’s rapidly growing ESG (environmental, social and governance) banking strategy, which seeks to cover hugely important themes related to ESG issues. For instance, the bank recently launched BIIC Talks, a televised series spotlighting key ESG topics, including women’s access to finance, entrepreneurial resilience and sustainable growth.