The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) was created to implement a single currency, the Franc de la Communauté Financière Africaine (F.CFA), which is issued by the BCEAO.

The WAEMU currently includes Benin, Burkina, Côte-d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. The organs overseeing WAEMU operations are:

The Assembly of Heads of State and Government

The Council of Ministers

The Banking Commission

The Regional Council of Public Saving and Financial Markets.

The Assembly of Heads of State and Government is the supreme organ of the Union. It decides which new members are to be admitted and makes all decisions concerning issues raised with it by the Council of Ministers.

The Council of Ministers directs the Union. Every member state is represented on it by two ministers, but only the minister of finance is allowed to vote.

The Council of Ministers unanimously adopts decisions regarding matters that arise within its sphere of competency in accordance with the provisions of the WAEMU treaty and the BCEAO statutes, as well as with those that the governments of the member states choose to submit for its examination or approval. These decisions must respect the international agreements signed by the Union's member states.

The Council of Ministers defines the Union's monetary and credit policy to protect the value of the common currency and finance economic activity and development in member states. More particularly, it approves agreements between the Common Currency Issuing Institute and foreign issuing institutes in order to facilitate external regulations for member states.