Bank of Central African States

History

Background

In 1920, the French government expanded the note-issuance privilege of the Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale to its central African colonies of Congo, Ubangi-Shari, Gabon, Chad, and later Cameroon. This arrangement was disrupted during World War II, as the colonies controlled by Free France became Free French Africa. The region's currency was standardized in late 1945 as the CFA Franc.

In 1955, the French government transferred the CCFOM's monetary role in the colonies of French Equatorial Africa to a new entity, the Institut d'Émission de l'Afrique Équatoriale Française et du Cameroun, which in 1959 was renamed the Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique Équatoriale et du Cameroun (BCEAEC) after it became clear that the colonies would soon become independent nations. The BCEAEC, headquartered in Paris, acted as the new countries' joint central bank throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, similarly as its sister entity the BCEAO for the former colonies of French West Africa.

Establishment and development

On , the five countries gathered in Brazzaville signed cooperation conventions between themselves and with France that formed the basis for their continued use of the CFA Franc, rebranded as standing for "Coopération Financière en Afrique" instead of "Communauté française d'Afrique". Under these agreements, the BEAC was established to succeed the BCEAEC and manage the joint currency, with a convertibility guarantee provided by the French Treasury.

Equatorial Guinea joined the currency arrangement and BEAC on .

On , following similar reform pioneered by the BCEAO earlier the same year, the member states decided to pool their banking supervision and created the Central African Banking Commission (COBAC) for that purpose within the BEAC. On , a follow-up agreement harmonized banking regulation in the region, paving the way for the effective establishment of the COBAC in January 1993.

The BEAC's statutes were revised in late 1999, to grant it greater independence.

Organization and governance

The BEAC has main branches known as National Directorates () in the capital or largest city of each of the member states. The BEAC also has branches in Bafoussam and Garoua (Cameroon), Berberati (CAR), Abéché and Moundou (Chad), Ouesso and Pointe-Noire (Congo), Bata (Equatorial Guinea), Franceville, Oyem, and Port-Gentil (Gabon).

As of 2019, the BEAC is governed by a Board of Directors (). Its highest monetary policy making body is the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC, ). The MPC consists of the Governor, two representatives of the French Government, and two representatives from each of the six CEMAC member states, one of which is the BEAC National Director for the country.

Buildings

The buildings of the National Directorates typically dominate the local skyline, respectively inaugurated in Bangui (1979), Libreville (1981), Yaoundé (1982), and N'Djamena (1994). In Malabo, the BEAC took over the former building of the Bank of Equatorial Guinea in July 1985. The BEAC's current head office tower in Yaoundé was inaugurated in 1988. until it moved its representative office to another location in 2007.

File:Colisee29.jpg|Building at 29, rue du Colisée in Paris, seat of the BCEAEC then BEAC in the 1960s and 1970s File:Yaounde-BEAC.jpg|BEAC Tower in Yaounde File:Brazzaville city view.jpg|BEAC tower in Brazzaville File:48 avenue Raymond-Poincaré, Paris 16e 1.jpg|48, avenue Raymond-Poincaré, the Paris office of BEAC

Governors

• Casimir Oyé-Mba (1978–1990)
• Jean-Félix Mamalepot (1990 – 2007)
• Philibert Andzembe (2007 – June 2010)
• (2010–2017)
• Abbas Mahamat Tolli (2017 – 2024)
• Yvon Sana Bangui (2024 – 2031)

Christian Joudiou, a French national, was the General Manager () of the BEAC from 1973 to 1978.

Controversy

Philibert Andzembe of Gabon was Governor of the BEAC from July 2007 until October 2009, when he was fired by the new president of Gabon, Ali Bongo, in response to a bank scandal in which $28.3 million went missing from the bank's Paris branch. In December 2010, a leaked diplomatic cable dated 3 June 2005, said that Gabonese officials working for the Bank of Central African States stole US$36 million over a period of five years from the pooled reserves, giving much of the money to members of France's two main political parties.

References

References

1. (9 February 2024). "Le Centrafricain Yvon Sana Bangui, nouveau gouverneur de la Banque des États de l'Afrique centrale".
2. (2017). "The Organisation and Structure of Central Banks".
3. "Caisse centrale de la France libre".
4. "Histoire de l'Emission Monétaire en Afrique Centrale".
5. "Banque centrale des états de l'Afrique équatoriale et du Cameroun".
6. Emilio Sacerdoti. (June 1991). "Central Bank Operations and Independence in a Monetary Union: BCEAO and BEAC". International Monetary Fund.
7. "La Commission Bancaire de l'Afrique Centrale".
8. Sylviane Guillaumont Jeanneney & Patrick Guillaumont. (May 2017). "Quel avenir pour les francs CFA ?". Ferdi Document de travail.
9. (22 March 2019). "La BEAC : Un organisme de conception et de gestion de la politique monétaire dans la CEMAC".
10. René Boer. (10 January 2014). "Two Banks Shaping the African Skyline".
11. (25 June 2008). "L'INSTITUT D'ÉMISSION DE L'AFRIQUE CENTRALE À TRAVERS LE XXE SIECLE".
12. [http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/12/2010122984115531832.html Gabon 'siphoned funds' to France] ''Al Jazeera''