Find Banking and Financial Services expertise in Cameroon
- Banks
- Regulation
- Development
Banks
A 2009 IMF study reported that Cameroon had the largest financial sector in the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) grouping of states (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon). There are 11 commercial banks, six of them foreign-owned and two government-owned and over 700 microfinance institutions (2011). The sector is dominated by foreign-owned banks, three of which control over 50% of the total banking assets – Société Genérale, Crédit Lyonnais, and Standard Chartered. Crédit Foncier du Cameroon, one of the government-owned banks leads the sector in mortgage (real-estate) lending. Lending rates to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are low. It has been suggested an interest rate ceiling of 15% has limited the ability of many banks to lend to riskier SMEs.
Regulation of Financial Services
CEMAC countries share a common banking supervisory authority and central bank, the Central African Banking Commission (COBAC) and the Bank of Central African States respectively. The banking industry in Cameroon is governed by laws and regulations which are somewhat flexible and can be modified according to some socio-cultural, political and economic development within Cameroon. Regulations vary between jurisdictions. Other regulatory bodies include the Ministry of Finance, the National Credit Council and the Banking and Credit Association. The Ministry of Finance is responsible for all banking activities, especially the terms and conditions of banking services. With respect to the soundness of its banks it placed 94th in the world, coming three places above the United Kingdom according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report (2012-2013).
Development of Financial Services
In the 2011 World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report Cameroon 98th in the world (out of 183 countries) for getting credit, a moderate ranking in the Sub-Saharan African context. The ranking places Cameroon on par with Gabon, Republic of Congo, Central African Republic and Chad. In relation to protecting investors it placed 122nd, a similarly average ranking in a regional context. Cameroon is still improving its availability and affordability of financial services and developing its banking penetration rates – in 2011 15% of over-15s possessed an account at a formal financial institution. For both financing through the local equity market and ease of access to loans the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report (2012-2013) gave Cameroon scores below the world mean.
| Banking and Financial Services organisations in Cameroon | |
|---|---|
| BEAC |
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| Cameroon Stock Exchange |
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| Central African Banking Commission (COBAC) |
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| Commonwealth Secretariat |
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| Crédit Foncier du Cameroun |
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| Crédit Lyonnais |
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| Ecobank |
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| SGBC |
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| Société Genérale |
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| Standard Chartered Bank |
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| Union Bank of Cameroon |
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