COBAC, the Central African Banking Commission and supervisor of banks

COBAC: definition and supervisory mission

The COBAC (Commission bancaire de l'Afrique centrale, the Central African Banking Commission) is the regulatory and prudential supervisory authority for the banking system of the six CEMAC states: Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad. An UMAC institution, it applies risk-based supervision and has its headquarters in Libreville, Gabon.

Bodies and governance of the COBAC

The UMAC convention provides for harmonised banking regulation and its supervision. The Governor of the BEAC chairs the commission: Yvon Sana Bangui, appointed on 9 February 2024, is its statutory chairman. The board of commissioners held nine sessions in 2024, three of them extraordinary.

The general secretariat is headed by Marcel Ondele, secretary general appointed on 9 April 2024, assisted by Patricia Danielle Manon. A new organisation chart was adopted on 30 July 2024, and a strategic plan covering 2025 to 2029 in December 2024.

Off-site and on-site inspections

Institutions are inspected both off-site and on-site. In 2024, 50 of the 60 planned on-site missions were carried out, or 83%. The commission also issued 202 prior opinions, granted 65 prior authorisations and received 368 prior notifications.

At the end of 2024, it supervised 56 banks, of which 12 were state-owned, 6 privately owned by national investors and 38 foreign-owned, as well as 9 financial institutions, 7 payment institutions and 521 microfinance institutions.

Sanctions and measures of the COBAC

The commission imposes disciplinary sanctions and preventive measures. In 2024, it imposed 84 sanctions: 13 reprimands, 70 licence withdrawals, all targeting microfinance institutions, and one ban on paying dividends. In addition there were 192 preventive measures, including 117 injunctions.

It also brought into force on 1 July 2024 a regulation on combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and adopted on 13 December 2024 a regulation on information technology risk management, together with a regulation on the calculation and recovery of penalties applicable to microfinance institutions.

Minimum capital and single licence

COBAC Regulation R-2025/02, adopted on 10 December 2025 in Libreville, has applied since 1 January 2026. It covers credit institutions whose head office is in the CEMAC. It raises the minimum capital of banks from 10 to 25 billion CFA francs and that of financial institutions from 2 to 4 billion. Existing institutions have a timetable: 14 billion for banks on 31 December 2026, then 18, 22 and 25 billion on 31 December 2027, 2028 and 2029.

Those unable to meet the deadline had to submit a recapitalisation plan to the secretary general before 30 June 2026. The UMAC Ministerial Committee also adopted on 20 December 2024 a regulation establishing the single banking licence.