Includes special features of this country’s banking system and rules/laws that might impact U.S. business.
Last Published: 8/6/2019

BEAC oversees Cameroon's banking system and is supervised by the French Treasury, which guarantees the convertibility of the local currency at a rate of 655.957 CFA to one Euro.  Cameroon must hold at least 60 percent of its foreign reserves in an account in Paris that is managed by the French Treasury.  The Central African Banking Committee (COBAC), housed in BEAC’s offices in Yaoundé regulates the banking sector within CEMAC. 

Cameroon has 13 operational commercial banks, with aggregate assets of 1,700 billion CFA francs (about $3 billion).  BEAC sets benchmark interest rates for the banking institutions and state treasuries.  Throughout the 2008-2009 financial crisis, Cameroon's banking system remained solid.  The regulatory board has restructured a few ailing banks.  The corporate community still complains about stringent prudential regulations, low lending volume, lack of innovative banking products, and poor quality of service.  The banking sector is regulated, but financial institutions tend to suffer from under-performance on local debt and unpaid loans from both commercial and individual debtors.  The presence of an American bank - Citibank - has made financial transactions easier for U.S. companies.

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