This establishment, which opened in 2015 by the State of Cameroon, has posted a negative result since 2016, according to a report by the Technical Commission for the Rehabilitation of Public and Parapublic Sector Enterprises.
The Cameroonian Bank of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (BC-PME) looks bad in the 2019 report of the Technical Commission for the Rehabilitation of Public and Parapublic Sector Enterprises (CTR) on public establishments in Cameroon. We learn that BC-PME has posted a negative result since 2016. In detail, it was -1.3 billion FCFA in 2016; -1.15 billion FCFA in 2017 and -1.1 billion FCFA in 2018. This is a cumulative loss of -3.55 billion FCFA.
As an explanation of this situation, the CTR indicates that “the financial situation of the BC-PME is characterized by an imbalance over the whole period
with significant losses and the net bank product insufficient to cover the overall operating expenses. , in particular staff costs ”.
We also note the low stability of the savings collected; which does not meet the financing needs of existing customers. As a result, commercial and marketing activity is constrained. “As far as reimbursements are concerned, the situation remains under control as soon as SMEs find it difficult to honor their commitments in detail. This situation, much more pronounced in Yaoundé than in Douala, is justified by the nature of their activities based on the completion of public contracts, “we learn from the CTR report.
Mixed specialized activity
In addition, specifies the document, the specialized activity of BC-PME towards PME remains mixed with a strong orientation in favor of the bottom of balance sheet. Because, barely 10% of the loans granted are medium-term loans while on average 90% are short-term loans.
BC-PME officially opened its doors on July 20, 2015. On August 31, 2015, the Central African Banking Commission (Cobac) found that the standard relating to the representation of the minimum capital had been violated. Following failure to comply with the relevant Cobac injunction, disciplinary proceedings were opened against the Bank’s managers in August 2018 for non-compliance with prudential minimum capital regulations.
In order to avoid sanctions related to the violation of the provisions of regulation Cobac R-93/10 setting the rules for the representation of the minimum capital of credit institutions, amending by regulation Cobac R-2001/04 which provide that “any establishment of credit must at all times justify that its net internal liabilities are equal to or greater than the minimum capital required ”, and in order to comply with the bank’s restructuring commitment made by the Cameroonian State to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of the three-year economic program (2016-2019) Extended Credit Facility (ECF), the government issued 1 million new shares of 10,000 each, by contribution in cash
Capital increase
Finally, during the General Assembly of November 16, 2018, the State, the sole shareholder, increased the capital of the Bank from 10 to 20 billion FCFA. Only, reveals the CTR, only 5 billion were released by cash payment on July 30, 2019.
BC-PME employed a workforce of 63 people as of December 31, 2018, including 44% managers, 46% supervisors, and 10% worker-employees, for overall personnel costs of FCFA 471 million.
The Cameroonian Bank of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises granted loans amounting to 12.367 billion FCFA to 846 beneficiaries at the end of 2018. The distribution of total credits, according to the type of credit, shows that cash credit has the most large share (70.6%), followed by business equipment credit (29%), import / export credit (0.3%) and housing credit (0.1%). According to the INS, the amount of credits granted in 2018 is constantly changing if we compare with previous years: 3.3 billion FCFA in 2016 (for 377 beneficiaries), and 6.448 billion FCFA in 2017 for 787 beneficiaries.
Congenital sins of a bank
The CTR notes that, since its creation in 2011 until 2017, the BC-PME has experienced many constraints in terms of governance, in particular: the non-holding of general assembly sessions since the opening of the bank in 2015. The CTR cites the company’s non-compliance with certain relevant provisions of Ohada with regard to the law of commercial companies and of the Economic Interest Group; non-compliance with Law No. 2017/011 on the general status of public enterprises; the disciplinary procedure investigated by COBAC and the placing under penalty