SCB Cameroon Transfers 4.3 Billion FCFA to Cdec After Contentious Discussions
The Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (Cdec) and the Société Commerciale de Banque Cameroon (SCB Cameroon) have finally reached an agreement for the transfer of inactive and unclaimed funds worth over 4.6 billion FCFA, recorded in the books of this subsidiary of the Moroccan group Attijariwafa bank. The official signing of the transfer minutes took place on Friday, June 7, 2024, at the Cdec headquarters in Yaoundé, between the director general of this public structure, Richard Evina Obam, and that of SCB Cameroon, Alexandre Beziaud.
The agreement involves the closure of 11,165 inactive accounts by SCB Cameroon, including 2,189 individual check accounts, 8,729 savings accounts, and 247 corporate current accounts. The total amount of inactive funds to be transferred to Cdec for these accounts amounts to precisely 4,315,065,539 FCFA. Additionally, SCB Cameroon has agreed to settle unclaimed assets amounting to 291,321,580 FCFA. This brings the total amount to be transferred to exactly 4,606,387,119 FCFA. However, for now, 4.3 billion FCFA of inactive funds have been transferred.
“The parties will retain documents related to the transfer activity and any other accounting documents in accordance with the laws and regulations in force. In any case, the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations reserves the right, in accordance with its prerogatives, to order and conduct audits and checks on documents and on-site to verify the declared and transferred amounts,” the public establishment said in a statement issued at the end of the ceremony.
It must be said that, according to the director general of Cdec, the discussions were challenging. “There were many points to clarify. It was necessary to resolve certain ambiguities on a technical and legal level. The discussions were heated, but when you listen to each other, you always reach a consensual solution, which is part of a concerted approach,” explained Richard Evina Obam.
The status of a sum of 7 billion FCFA to be clarified
Faced with these challenges, the signing of the funds transfer minutes, initially scheduled for June 6, was even postponed to the next day. According to our information, among the points to be clarified was the amount to be transferred. While SCB Cameroon proposed a little over 4 billion FCFA, Cdec was hoping for at least 10 billion FCFA. In its calculation, the public establishment included a sum of 7 billion FCFA. This money, it was learned, had been transferred by the Treasury to the Attijariwafa bank subsidiary with the aim of creating an agricultural bank. This credit institution, which has been in gestation since 2011, has still not seen the light of day to this day, and Cdec considered the 7 billion FCFA to be unclaimed funds.
To clarify the situation, the parties agreed to turn to the Ministry of Finance, which ordered the availability of the said funds. This ministerial department will have to determine whether these funds should be transferred to Cdec or returned to the Treasury. “The discussions have helped clarify the ambiguities and reduce the amount. Today, we are left with 4.3 billion FCFA in the pot, which is not negligible,” commented Richard Evina Obam.
The director general of Cdec also urged other banks to follow the example of SCB Cameroon by transferring the resources allocated to his institution. He also mentioned that warnings have been issued to credit institutions that did not meet the deadline of May 31, set by the decree of the Prime Minister on December 1, 2023, and that regulatory sanctions could be applied. “Some banks are resisting, others are adopting an uncivil attitude, but I think that with a concerted approach and dialogue, they will eventually understand that the law must prevail,” he said.
In conclusion, the transfer of 4.3 billion FCFA from SCB Cameroon to Cdec marks a significant step in the management of unclaimed funds and inactive accounts. The collaborative effort between the two institutions sets a positive example for other banks to follow suit and uphold financial regulations for the benefit of the public.