(MINFI)
MINFI Boss Motaze, cracks down on illegal micro finance institutions
Cameroon has over 385 licensed microfinance institutions authorized to operate nationwide in 2026, according to a list published by the Ministry of Finance covering approvals as of December 31, 2025.
The figure is slightly down from 390 a year earlier.
Finance Minister Louis Paul Motazé said the publication is intended to steer customers away from unlicensed operators, which continue to surface in a sector regarded as critical to the country’s economy. Authorities stressed that microfinance institutions play a key role in providing access to finance, particularly in rural areas where commercial banks are absent or thinly represented.
In 2024, licensed microfinance institutions in Cameroon extended CFA659.4 billion in credit to households and businesses, according to data from the Central African Banking Commission, or Cobac, the regulator for the six-member Central African Economic and Monetary Community. That amount was about CFA41 billion higher than the previous year and accounted for 57.6% of all microfinance credit issued across the region.
Cobac data also show that credit distributed by Cameroonian microfinance institutions was three times higher than that of lenders in Congo and six times higher than in Gabon. The dominance reflects the sector’s scale: of the 521 licensed microfinance institutions operating across the CEMAC zone in 2024, 384 were based in Cameroon, representing nearly 74% of the total.
Growth under tighter scrutiny
The expansion of microfinance in Cameroon mirrors the country’s economic weight within the region. Official figures describe Cameroon as the economic engine of CEMAC, accounting for around 40% of the subregion’s industrial base. That broader and more diversified economy has widened the client base for financial institutions, including both microfinance lenders and commercial banks.
But the sector’s growth has also exposed weaknesses. In recent years, a series of liquidations and placements under provisional administration have raised concerns among customers over deposit safety and the continuity of credit services. Industry observers say these developments largely reflect tougher regulatory enforcement rather than a sudden deterioration in fundamentals.
According to David Kengne, director general of the Microfinance Academy, the regulatory overhaul launched by Cobac in 2015 marked a turning point. “Before 2015, an institution that met prudential ratios was considered sound,” he said. “Yet some showed strong financial indicators while suffering from governance failures or weak internal controls.”
The revised framework expanded supervision beyond balance-sheet ratios to include operational controls, compliance, risk management, and internal audit standards. After a transition period that ran through 2020, Cobac stepped up inspections from 2021 onward, leading to closures or takeovers of institutions deemed non-compliant in Cameroon and elsewhere in the region.
For regulators, the objective is to clean up a sector that has become central to financing households, small businesses, and local economies across Central Africa, while restoring confidence in institutions that serve millions of customers.