(Business in Cameroon) – The Central African Banking Commission (Cobac), the banking regulator of the six-nation CEMAC zone (Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, CAR, and Chad), has issued its first authorizations to open new bank branches under the single-license framework adopted on December 20, 2024.
The first beneficiaries of this simplified approval process are Cameroon’s Afriland First Bank, the local subsidiary of Moroccan money-transfer firm Wafacash, and Morocco’s Bank of Africa (BOA), which has operated in Congo since acquiring La Congolaise de Banque (LCB) in 2022.
Afriland First Bank Plans Rapid Expansion
According to sources, the authorization allows Afriland First Bank, Cameroon’s market leader, to accelerate its expansion into Congo, the Central African Republic (CAR), and Chad.
“These openings should take place soon. We are ready internally, both in terms of staffing and capital mobilization,” said an authorized source within the financial holding founded by Cameroonian billionaire Paul Kammogne Fokam. “What might slow us down slightly is the need to carry out on-site scouting for suitable locations, for example.”
The approvals enable the Cameroonian group to advance into markets it has long targeted or where it already supports industrial projects. Afriland First Bank has targeted the Chadian market since 2022.
Targeting Strategic Markets
Following a meeting at the Ministry of Finance and Budget in N’Djamena on May 11, 2022, Afriland First Bank CEO Célestin Guéla Simo publicly confirmed the group’s interest in Chad.
“Chad is a country with enormous economic potential. It is a market with promising growth prospects that benefits from a unique geostrategic position. With a young and dynamic population, the country represents a good risk for us to take,” Simo said at the time.
In the Central African Republic, the bank’s affiliated investment arm, Afriland First Holding (AFH), completed a major project on April 15, 2025. The CAR government signed an investment agreement with India’s Mahasakthi Group for a project worth about XAF 800 billion, combining agro-industry and power generation. Structured by AFH, the initiative involves building a complex to cultivate and process sugarcane (20,000 hectares) and cassava (10,000 hectares) while producing 70 MW of electricity.
The planned branch openings in Chad, CAR, and Congo will allow Afriland First Bank to revive its regional expansion within CEMAC, following its swift and controversial withdrawal from Equatorial Guinea several years ago.
Single License to Bridge the Banking Gap
These branch approvals also aim to strengthen the sub-regional banking network, a key objective under the single-banking-license regime in CEMAC. The framework allows branches to later be converted into full banking subsidiaries.
“The new framework gives banks already licensed in one CEMAC member state the ability to extend their activities to another member state,” explained Yvon Sana Bangui, Governor of the Bank of Central African States (BEAC), in a statement issued on February 14, 2025. “They can establish a branch there without having to complete new administrative formalities to obtain a license in the host state.”
The single-license system is expected to help CEMAC narrow the banking-sector gap with other African sub-regions. WAEMU, for instance, had 135 licensed banks as of end-July 2025, including 29 in Senegal and 28 in Côte d’Ivoire, while CEMAC counted only 54 active banks, 19 of which are in Cameroon.
Brice R. Mbodiam
