Recovery of idle funds: COBAC petitions gov’t over CDEC’s disruption of banking activities.

It says CDEC’s moves are putting the country’s banking system in disarray. This is the content of a letter, which the Deputy Secretary General of COBAC, Patricia Danielle Manon, sent to the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, dated October 12.

The same letter is copied the Prime Minister, Head of Government, Dr Chief Joseph Dion Ngute; the Minister of State, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Laurent Esso; the President of Professional Association of Credit Institutions of Cameroon, APPECAM, and the Director General of CDEC, Richard Evina Obam.

Titled: “Disruption of the banking system by CDEC”, COBAC reminded authorities that CDEC officials have in the last couple of months engaged several judicial and recovery moves against financial institutions that violate protocols and laws in place.

Manon said the President of APPECAM had raised an alarm over the disruptions the activities of CDEC are already having in Cameroon’s banking landscape. 

“CDEC has been filing complaints with the national courts for embezzlement of public funds against the managers of credit institutions, initiating seizures (accompanied by third-party notices) amounting to several billion FCFA against these institutions…,” Manon wrote.

COBAC further decried that CDEC has also been sending “threatening letters to the parent companies of international banks”, putting their activities in jeopardy.

While noting that CDEC has stayed on such a track on grounds of its right to reclaim idle funds from financial institutions, COBAC said in the letter that it disapproves of the cacophony it has sparked in Cameroon’s financial landscape.

The Deputy Secretary General of COBAC, also raised worry over public outcry of the management of unclaimed funds handed to CDEC and the lack of a harmonised law to guide such activities.

COBAC argued that it is still in the process of putting in place such a regularity framework. The petition to government indicated that work has advanced to ensure protection for clients and tranquility of CDEC and similar institutions within CEMAC.

It added that the Central African Monetary Union, UMAC, Ministerial Council equally built on several consultations with stakeholders to pass certain resolutions On July 12, 2025. This, the letter said, was during a meeting in Malabo- Equatorial Guinea.

Among the things agreed on, COBAC’s deputy scribe reminded Minister Motaze of: “Regulation No. 01/25/CEMAC/UMAC/COBAC on the conditions for exercising and supervising the activities of deposit and consignment banks in the CEMAC region; (ii) Regulation No. 02/25/CEMAC/UMAC/COBAC on the treatment of inactive accounts and unclaimed assets in the books of institutions subject to COBAC”.

She stated that the resolutions went into force on September 1, 2025, and still remains tenable across all CEMAC countries till date.

Exceptions under review 

The letter, a copy of which The Guardian Post read through, indicates that financial institutions which had in their books accounts that had been inactive for 10 years were supposed to surrender them to CDEC or similar institutions in their respective countries.

She further noted that on May 21, 2025, COBAC asked institutions to notify it of the volume of unclaimed assets. 

Manon noted that since July this year, COBAC, “imposed penalties on institutions that did not comply with this request”.

The Deputy Secretary General added that: “The analysis of the information is continuing and the procedures to assist the institutions concerned in transferring these funds are being finalised”.

COBAC condemns, wants a stop

In the letter, COBAC observed that: “It is therefore incomprehensible that CDEC is striving to bring legal proceedings against microfinance, and payment institutions in Cameroon, despite the aforementioned regulatory and operational measures”. 

The note also stated that some of the actions violate certain laws in place. 

COBAC appealed to the Minister of Finance and other competent authorities to call CDEC to order to guarantee equilibrium in the banking industry.

Manon also prayed authorities “...to ensure that its (CDEC) managers… cease any proceedings and actions that contravene the spirit and letter of the decisions of the UMAC Ministerial Committee”.

Public contracts surety bonds wahala

COBAC also reminded authorities that APPECAM has also raised concerns over changes in requirements for surety bonds for public contracts.

She noted that it poses a threat to “credit risk management” and does not comply to laws in place and “are likely to cause difficulties in the cash management of credit institutions in Cameroon”.

About CDEC

President Paul Biya created CDEC in March 2008. Its pioneer management was appointed on January 20, 2023.

Since then, its functioning has caused COBAC to swing to action to address legal vacuums guiding its operation and management of such funds to protect users of financial institutions.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3623 of Thursday November 13, 2025