(Business in Cameroon) – The Central African Banking Commission (Cobac), which oversees the banking sector in the CEMAC region, has called for a temporary halt on the transfer of unclaimed assets to Cameroon’s Deposits and Consignments Fund (Cdec). This directive was communicated in a letter dated July 11, 2024, to Richard Evina Obam, Director General of the Cdec, with copies sent to the Professional Association of Credit Institutions of Cameroon (Apeccam) and the National Association of Microfinance Institutions of Cameroon (Anemcam).
This decision, conveyed by Cobac’s Secretary General Marcel Ondélé, aims to clarify the nature and define the methods of preservation, management, and potential restitution of these assets before any transfer actions are taken.
Unclaimed assets refer to funds and securities that have not been claimed by their owners for an extended period and are intended to be transferred to specific institutions for subsequent management. According to a decree by the Prime Minister on December 1, 2023, these assets are to be transferred to the Cdec following established rules. The decree set a six-month deadline, ending on May 31, 2024, for credit, microfinance, and payment institutions to transfer these assets to the Cdec.
However, Cobac points out that there is currently no clearly defined community regulatory framework to govern these transfers within CEMAC, “apart from the rules relating to the accounting treatment of these assets.” This gap could lead to operational risks and potential disputes between financial institutions, the Cdec, and the asset holders or their heirs. In response, Cobac announced it is “working on a community-wide framework to guide the handling of unclaimed assets by credit, microfinance, and payment institutions, and their transfer to authorized institutions.” This framework aims to “preserve financial stability within CEMAC, manage operational risks associated with the preservation and management of these assets, and mitigate the risk of disputes between national institutions, financial institutions, and the asset holders or their heirs.”
As a direct consequence of this directive, several financial institutions, including major players like Allianz Cameroon, the Bank of Central African States (Beac), Standard Chartered Bank, Crédit Foncier du Cameroun (CFC), Société Commerciale de Banque Cameroun (SCB Cameroun), Banque Internationale du Cameroun pour l’Épargne et le Crédit (Bicec), and Société Générale du Cameroun (SGC), which had already initiated transfers to the Cdec amounting to over CFA21 billion, are now on hold. This suspension could potentially complicate liquidity management for these financial institutions, while prolonging uncertainty for the holders of unclaimed assets regarding the return of their property.
