The end of cash dominance?
As Tunisia embarks on a phase of deep structural reforms, the latest figures from the Central Bank reveal a major sociological shift: a 31% growth in the value of mobile transactions in 2025. Yet behind this performance, the Tunisian market faces a paradox. With 16 payment service providers (PSPs) for a pool of 469,000 active wallets, the challenge is no longer technology, but interoperability.
From “data scoring” to the sovereignty of the White-EMV scheme, an analysis of an ecosystem seeking maturity.
The figures analysis: growth driven by real usage
The data from the Central Bank Bulletin No. 15 are not merely statistics; they reflect a profound shift in habits. The volume of mobile payment transactions reached 1,375 MDT in 2025, up from 1,049.6 MDT the previous year.
This 31% increase in value indicates a upgrading of usage: mobile is no longer used solely for micro-payments, but is establishing itself as a serious settlement tool.
However, the analysis of the flows reveals a persistence of cash-out (withdrawal) at 14.2%. The challenge for 2026 will be to transform this flow into a closed loop where money remains digital end-to-end, thus avoiding value leakage toward the fiduciary.
The Safaricom/M-Pesa model: a compass for Tunisia?
The debate about the role of telecom operators as federators finds its answer in the East African experience. In Kenya, M-Pesa succeeded where banks had failed by turning top-up card sellers into nearby banking agents.
Tunisia already possesses this network. By using the USSD channel, crucial for rural areas, operators can solve the “last mile” problem.
However, the Tunisian strategy, through the integration of E-Houwiya into the Paysmart platform, shows that the regulator desires an open model: the operator provides access, but the BCT ensures that the client remains free to move from one provider to another without suffering a monopoly.
Data scoring: the future of credit through data
The real added value of mobile payment does not lie in money transfer, but in the data it generates. For the first time, Tunisia has a tool capable of creating a “digital credit score” for populations historically excluded from the banking system (artisans, micro-entrepreneurs).
By analyzing recharge frequency, punctuality of bill payments, or consumer habits, PSPs and partner banks can now offer instant nano-credit.
This lever turns the wallet into an engine of economic ascent, allowing a merchant to finance stock with a single click, with no real guarantee other than its digital reputation.
Integrating the informal sector: toward a “formal light”
Mobile payment is the most effective tool to reduce the share of the informal economy. Rather than a brutal and burdensome transition, it offers a gentle gateway toward formalization.
A street vendor accepting mobile payment begins to leave a digital trace of their activity. This visibility provides increased security (fewer cash theft risks) and opens, in the long run, the doors to official financial services.
For the state, it is an unprecedented opportunity to progressively reintegrate billions of dinars into the traced economic circuit.
The advent of “super apps”: more than a wallet, an ecosystem
The battle among the 16 Tunisian PSPs will not be fought over transaction fees, but over the richness of the ecosystem. We are entering the era of super apps, inspired by Asian models.
In a single interface, the Tunisian user will be able to pay bills (STEG/SONEDE), top up their phone, order a meal, book a ride, or subscribe to micro-insurance.
The mobile thus becomes the center of gravity of civic life, radically simplifying daily interactions between the consumer and public or private services.
The Tunisian bank facing the glass ceiling of inclusion
Mobile payment is not the end of banks, but the end of a certain banking model. If banks show a 6.6% growth in their card fleet (5.8 million units), they must now reposition themselves as high value-added service providers.
The concept of the “glass ceiling” explains that real inclusion will only be achieved when we can move from payment (flows) to financing (stock).
The bank of tomorrow will be an open platform (Open Banking) providing liquidity and regulatory framework to fintechs, thus creating a synergy where each actor plays to their strength: agility for PSPs, solidity for banks.
The White-EMV scheme: a matter of digital sovereignty
One of the most strategic points of the BCT’s roadmap is the deployment of the national White-EMV scheme. The objective is clear: reduce Tunisia’s technological and financial dependence on international giants.
By processing domestic transactions via a sovereign national standard, Tunisia protects its financial data, reduces foreign currency outflows related to international commissions, and strengthens the resilience of its payment infrastructure against external shocks.
2026: the year of technical and regulatory convergence
Three major initiatives will act as catalysts:
- The national mobile switch : total interoperability so that a client of PSP “A” can pay a merchant affiliated with PSP “B”.
- The ISO 20022 standard : this universal language of financial data (SWIFT MX) will allow banks and fintechs to talk without friction, thus facilitating instant transfers.
- The finance law and electronic invoicing : by making the digital trace mandatory from 2026 for certain transactions, the state mechanically pushes economic operators toward mobile payment and automatic accounting reconciliation.
Towards digital monetary sovereignty
The multiplicity of electronic wallets in Tunisia signals market vitality. But for this vitality not to turn into fragmentation, technical convergence and total interoperability are imperative.
The future belongs neither to banks alone nor to telecom operators alone, but to those who know how to build hybrid ecosystems.
Mobile payment is the first step toward a Tunisia that is “less-cash,” where financial transparency becomes the bedrock of a new trust between citizen, merchant, and the state.
The 31% rise recorded in 2025 is only a prelude: the real revolution will be that of total interoperability, expected as the big bang of the national digital economy.
By Walid Kooli
University professor, expert facilitator in e-commerce, strategies and digital transformation of enterprises.
