A high-stakes disagreement is deepening across Central Africa as efforts to set new rules for supervising public deposit institutions have hit a wall. The working group, formed by the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), ended its third and final meeting with just one consensus out of two expected.

The main sticking point: who should oversee the Caisses de dépôts et consignations (CDCs), the public institutions in charge of managing dormant funds and other state-linked assets.

Cameroon and Gabon, home to the only two active CDCs in the CEMAC zone made up of Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, and the Central African Republic have firmly rejected proposals for full oversight by the Central African Banking Commission (COBAC). They argue that COBAC should only monitor the banking aspects of their work. BEAC and COBAC, on the other hand, are pushing for complete regulatory control.

“We reached common ground on the draft text concerning the management of inactive accounts and unclaimed assets. But Cameroon and Gabon opposed the idea of full supervision by COBAC. They prefer it limited strictly to banking activities,” BEAC Governor Yvon Sana Bangui said in a statement after the April 15 meeting.

Cameroon’s CDC published its own statement on April 17, confirming that disagreements remain unresolved. The agency, led by Richard Evina Obam, says key concerns have been ignored by BEAC and COBAC throughout the talks.

These concerns include a lack of legal basis for COBAC’s involvement, infringement on state sovereignty, and the fact that public treasury accountants are not under COBAC’s control. Cameroon also questions COBAC’s authority over both public and private funds and claims it is being unfairly targeted.

The contrast between Cameroon and Gabon has added fuel to the fire. Gabon’s CDC, launched in 2012, operated for over a decade without any interference from either COBAC or BEAC. Its past performance was strong, with a balance sheet of CFA298 billion, assets worth CFA105 billion, and average annual profits of CFA3.2 billion as of 2018. No issues were ever raised about its regulatory structure.

Adding a twist to the story, Patricia Danielle Manon, who led Gabon’s CDC from 2019 until early 2024, now serves as Deputy Secretary General at COBAC.

The mood shifted after Cameroon launched its CDC in January 2023. Almost immediately, tensions emerged between the new institution and banks, regulators, and BEAC itself. The disputes mostly centered on the transfer of dormant assets to the CDC, which banks were reluctant to carry out.

After months of stalling, Cameroon’s government stepped in, declaring a firm deadline: by June 1, 2024, all banks and financial institutions had to comply.

Some did. Commercial banks, insurers, and even BEAC’s Cameroon office transferred funds—CFA3.9 billion in BEAC’s case—by late May 2024. But others resisted, citing the need for clear rules on how the CDC would manage and audit the funds once transferred.

In July 2024, those banks received support from none other than COBAC. In a letter dated July 11, addressed to the CDC’s director and copied to industry associations, COBAC Secretary General Marcel Ondélé advised all institutions to pause transfers of unclaimed assets to the CDC.

COBAC argued that there was no legal framework in place to support such transfers across the region, aside from accounting guidelines.

At the center of this rift is COBAC’s push for a regional regulatory framework that would place the CDCs fully under its authority. The April 15 meeting did not yield a compromise on that front. BEAC’s Governor noted that final versions of the regulatory drafts would now be sent to CEMAC’s decision-making bodies.

But Cameroon and Gabon see this as regulators trying to push through a decision by force.

Both CDCs have criticized BEAC and COBAC for presenting their proposals directly to the CEMAC ministerial committee the only body with the authority to settle the matter without resolving the disagreements first.

Source: Business in Cameroon