Bank of Central African States

{{Infobox Central bank

| bank_name_in_local = Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale (BEAC) {{in lang|fr}}

| image_1 =

| image_title_1 =

| image_2 = Bank of Central African States 2014 front.JPG

| image_title_2 = Headquarters of the BEAC

| established = 1972

| president = Yvon Sana Bangui{{Cite web |url=https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20240209-le-centrafricain-yvon-sana-bangui-nouveau-gouverneur-de-la-banque-des-%C3%A9tats-de-l-afrique-centrale |website = Radio France International |title=Le Centrafricain Yvon Sana Bangui, nouveau gouverneur de la Banque des États de l'Afrique centrale |date=9 February 2024}}

| leader_title = Governor

| leader_title2 = Deputy Governor

| leader_name2 =

| bank_of = Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa

| currency = Central African CFA franc

| currency_iso = XAF

| reserves = 9 790 million USD{{cite web |last1=Weidner |first1=Jan |title=The Organisation and Structure of Central Banks |url=https://d-nb.info/1138787981/34 |website=Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek|year=2017|format=PDF}}

| borrowing_rate =

| deposit_rate =

| website = {{URL|https://www.beac.int/|beac.int}}

| preceded = Banque Centrale des Etats de l'Afrique Equatoriale et du Cameroun

| succeeded =

| footnotes =

| logo = Bank of Central African States logo.svg

| logo_caption = Logo of the BEAC

| logo_upright = 0.75

}}

Image:CFA Franc map.svg

The Bank of Central African States ({{langx|fr|Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale}}, BEAC; {{langx|es|Banco de los Estados de África Central}}) is a central bank that serves six central African countries which form the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo.

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 Caisse Centrale de la France Libre was established in London in December 1941 to manage the regional currency, and was renamed Caisse Centrale de la France d'Outre-Mer (CCFOM) in 1944.{{cite web |website=Bibliothèque nationale de France |url=https://data.bnf.fr/fr/13328775/caisse_centrale_de_la_france_libre/ |title=Caisse centrale de la France libre }} 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.{{cite web |website=beac.int |title=Histoire de l'Emission Monétaire en Afrique Centrale |url=https://www.beac.int/billets-pieces/histoire-franc-cfa/histoire-de-lemission-monetaire-afrique-centrale/ }} The BCEAEC, headquartered in Paris,{{cite web |website=Bibliothèque nationale de France |url=https://data.bnf.fr/12180487/banque_centrale_des_etats_de_l_afrique_equatoriale_et_du_cameroun/ |title=Banque centrale des états de l'Afrique équatoriale et du Cameroun}} 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 {{date|1972-11-22}}, 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".{{cite conference |url=https://www.elibrary.imf.org/downloadpdf/book/9781557751850/ch011.xml |publisher=International Monetary Fund |title=Central Bank Operations and Independence in a Monetary Union: BCEAO and BEAC |book-title=The Evolving Role of Central Banks |editor=Patrick Downes & Reza Vaez-Zadeh |date=June 1991 |author=Emilio Sacerdoti}}{{rp|151}} 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. On {{date|1973-02-01}}, the member states met in Fort-Lamy and decided to locate the new institution in Cameroon. The BEAC held its first board meeting on {{date|1973-03-13}} and started operations on {{date|1973-04-02}}. The full transfer of head office activity from Paris to Yaoundé was completed in early 1977.{{cite web |website=beac.int |title=1972–2012 : 40 ans d'histoire de la BEAC |url=https://www.beac.int/beac/la-beac/1972-2012-40-ans-dhistoire-de-beac/ }}

Equatorial Guinea joined the currency arrangement and BEAC on {{date|1985-01-01}}.

On {{date|1990-10-16}}, 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 {{date|1992-01-17}}, a follow-up agreement harmonized banking regulation in the region, paving the way for the effective establishment of the COBAC in January 1993.{{cite web |website=beac.int |title=La Commission Bancaire de l'Afrique Centrale |url=https://www.beac.int/supervision-bancaire/la-commission-bancaire/ }}

The BEAC's statutes were revised in late 1999, and again in 2010,{{citation |url=https://ferdi.fr/dl/df-i4m9yVYTyifsEJCsmUNrsbcR/ferdi-p188-quel-avenir-pour-les-francs-cfa.pdf |author=Sylviane Guillaumont Jeanneney & Patrick Guillaumont |date=May 2017 |title=Quel avenir pour les francs CFA ? |journal=Ferdi Document de travail |issue=P188}}{{rp|6}} to grant it greater independence.

Organization and governance

The BEAC has main branches known as National Directorates ({{langx|fr|direction nationale}}) 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 ({{langx|fr|Conseil d'administration}}). Its highest monetary policy making body is the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC, {{langx|fr|Comité de politique monétaire}}). 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.{{cite web |website=christattouh blog |title=La BEAC : Un organisme de conception et de gestion de la politique monétaire dans la CEMAC |url=https://christattouh.wordpress.com/2019/03/22/la-beac-un-organisme-de-conception-et-de-gestion-de-la-politique-monetaire-dans-la-cemac/ |date=22 March 2019}}

Buildings

The buildings of the National Directorates typically dominate the local skyline,{{cite web |website=FA Failed Architecture |title=Two Banks Shaping the African Skyline |author=René Boer |url=https://failedarchitecture.com/bceao-and-beac-buildings-the-lonely-towers-of-african-capitals/ |date=10 January 2014}} 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. In Paris, the BEAC was located on 29, rue du Colisée, together with the BCEAO,{{cite web |website=World Bank |url=https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/912171535399156647-0240021976/render/WorldBankGroupArchivesFolder1064732.txt |title=Records of the Office of the Chief Economist}} 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)
{{ill|Lucas Abaga Nchama|no}} (2010–2017)
Abbas Mahamat Tolli (2017 – 2024)
Yvon Sana Bangui (2024 – 2031)

Christian Joudiou, a French national, was the General Manager ({{langx|fr|directeur général}}) of the BEAC from 1973 to 1978.{{Cite web |date=25 June 2008 |title=L'INSTITUT D'ÉMISSION DE L'AFRIQUE CENTRALE À TRAVERS LE XXE SIECLE |url=http://www.beac.int/histbeac.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100216125838/http://www.beac.int/histbeac.htm |archive-date=16 February 2010 |website=Banque des États de l'Afrique Centrale}}

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.[http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/12/2010122984115531832.html Gabon 'siphoned funds' to France] Al Jazeera