Central Bank of West African States

{{Infobox central bank

| image = Dakar-BCEAO3.jpg

| caption = BCEAO headquarters in Dakar, Senegal

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

| logo = Central Bank of West African States full logo.svg

| headquarters = Dakar, Senegal

| established = 1959

| executive_title = Governor

| executive = Jean-Claude Brou

| bank_of = West African Economic and Monetary Union

| currency = West African CFA franc

| currency_iso = XOF

| reserves = 9 820 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 = [http://www.bceao.int www.bceao.int]

| preceded = Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale (1901-1955)
Institut d'Émission de l'Afrique Occidentale Française et du Togo (1955-1959)

| succeeded =

| footnotes =

}}

Image:CFA Franc map.svg

The Central Bank of West African States ({{langx|fr|Banque Centrale des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest}}, BCEAO) is a central bank serving the eight west African countries which share the common West African CFA franc currency and comprise the West African Economic and Monetary Union.

The BCEAO is active in developing financial inclusion policy and is a member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion.{{cite web |url=http://www.afi-global.org/about-afi/members |title=AFI members |publisher=AFI Global |date=2011-10-10 |access-date=2012-02-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220141606/http://www.afi-global.org/about-afi/members |archive-date=2012-02-20 }}

History

File:Colisee29.jpg

In 1955, the French government transferred the note-issuance privilege for its West African colonies, hitherto held by the Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale, to a newly created entity based in Paris, the Institut d'Émission de l'Afrique Occidentale Française et du Togo. In 1959, the latter's name was changed to BCEAO.{{cite journal | author=Mensah, A. | title=The Process of Monetary Decolonization in Africa | journal=Utafiti: Journal of the Faculty of Arts and Social Science, University of Dar Es Salaam | volume=4 | issue=1 |date=July 1979 | pages=48–49 |url=http://archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/African%20Journals/pdfs/Utafiti/vol4no1/aejp004001007.pdf | access-date=July 21, 2012}}{{cite web |title=Dates clés |url=http://www.bceao.int/Dates-cles,3.html |language= fr |publisher= Central Bank of West African States |access-date = July 21, 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120718061006/http://www.bceao.int/Dates-cles,3.html |archive-date = 2012-07-18 |url-status = dead}}{{cite web | url=http://africanbanknotes.com/jun07/CFAFIRST.htm | title=West African States CFA Franc Banknotes: First series of CFA banknotes issued by BCEAO 1959 | access-date=July 21, 2012 }}{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

The treaty establishing the West African Monetary Union ({{langx|fr|Union Monétaire Ouest-Africaine}}, UMOA) was signed on {{date|1962/05/12}} and gave BCEAO the exclusive right to issue currency as the common central bank for the, then, seven member countries:{{cite web | title=Traité de l'Union Monétaire Ouest-Africaine | url=http://www.izf.net/pages/traite-de-l-umoa/2068/ | publisher=IZF | access-date=July 22, 2012 | language=fr | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130222023231/http://www.izf.net/pages/traite-de-l-umoa/2068/ | archive-date=February 22, 2013 }} (Article 15)

{{cite web | title=Cadre Institutionnel | url=http://www.bceao.int/Cadre-Institutionnel,346.html | publisher=BCEAO | access-date=July 22, 2012 | language=fr | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120718060950/http://www.bceao.int/Cadre-Institutionnel,346.html | archive-date=July 18, 2012 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}

Côte d'Ivoire, Dahomey (later renamed Benin), Haute-Volta (later renamed Burkina Faso), Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal. The statutes of the bank were subsequently approved in November 1962 and remained essentially unchanged until 1974, providing for dominant French influence over the BCEAO's governance.{{citation |title=The West African Monetary Union An Analytical Review |author=Rattan J. Bhatia |year=1985 |publisher=International Monetary Fund |chapter-url=https://www.elibrary.imf.org/display/book/9781616351083/ch02.xml |chapter=Chapter II: The Central Bank of West African States, 1962–74: Its Structure and Functions |location=Washington DC}}

On {{date|1962-06-30}}, Mali left the group and adopted the Malian franc as national currency. On {{date|1963-12-17}}, Togo officially joined the UMOA. On {{date|1973-05-30}}, Mauritania withdrew and adopted the ouguiya as national currency. On {{date|1984-02-17}}, Mali re-joined the UMOA. Guinea-Bissau joined the group in 1997.

In 1975, the BCEAO was led for the first time by an African Governor, Ivorian Abdoulaye Fadiga. It remained headquartered in Paris until mid-1978, when its head office was relocated to Dakar. The Dakar headquarters was formally inaugurated on {{date|1979/05/26}}. In 1994, the UMOA framework was reformed and rebranded as UEMOA.{{cite web |website=Revue Politique et Parlementaire |url=https://www.revuepolitique.fr/le-dilemme-monetaire-de-lalliance-des-etats-du-sahel/#fn-31721-17 |date={{date|2024-03-11}} |title=Le dilemme monétaire de l’Alliance des États du Sahel |author=Boubacar Baïdari & Daniel Gouadain}}

The BCEAO's statutes were amended in 2010 to grant it greater independence from member states.{{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}}

Banking Commission

In 1989, BCEAO Governor Alassane Ouattara promoted the creation of a single banking supervisory authority for the entire West African Monetary Union. The Banking Commission of the West African Monetary Union was subsequently established by an international convention signed in Ouagadougou on {{date|1990/04/24}}{{cite web |website=Abidjan.netTV |title=Film institutionnel sur l'histoire de la commission bancaire de l'UMOA |date=2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX-p1fa67uU }}

UMOA-Titres

In 2012, the West African Monetary Union's Council of Ministers authorized the BCEAO to create a regional agency to support the issuance and management of their public securities ({{langx|fr|titres}}). The agency was formally created on {{date|2013/03/15}} under the name UMOA-Titres. Since then, UMOA-Titres has coordinated most of the member states' government debt issuance.{{cite web |website=UMOA-Titres |title=About Us |url=https://www.umoatitres.org/en/qui-sommes-nous/}}

Member states

{{flag|Benin}}
{{flag|Burkina Faso}}
{{flag|Guinea Bissau}}
{{flag|Ivory Coast}}
{{flag|Mali}}
{{flag|Niger}}
{{flag|Senegal}}
{{flag|Togo}}

Buildings

The BCEAO has a main branch, known as agency, in the largest city of each of the member states, whose building typically dominates 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={{date|2014/01/10}}}} In Dakar, the BCEAO's headquarters is in a high-rise building separate from the agency for Senegal. In addition, the BCEAO has branches in Parakou (Benin), Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso), Abengourou, Bouaké, Daloa, Korhogo, Man and San-Pédro (Côte d'Ivoire), Mopti and Sikasso (Mali), Maradi and Zinder (Niger), Kaolack and Ziguinchor (Senegal), and Kara (Togo).{{cite web |website=bceao.int |title=Presentation of BCEAO |url=https://www.bceao.int/en/content/presentation-bceao }} In Paris, the BCEAO maintains a representative office in its former headquarters building at 29, rue du Colisée.

File:SN-dakar-hafen-02.jpg|BCEAO headquarters tower in Dakar (center)

File:BCEAO tower Cotonou, Benin1.jpg|Benin Agency in Cotonou

File:Ouagadougou BCEAO day.JPG|Burkina Faso Agency in Ouagadougou

File:Agencia BCEAO em Bissau.jpg|Guinea-Bissau Agency in Bissau

File:BrancheBCEAOAbidjanFeb2016.jpg|Ivory Coast Agency in Abidjan

File:Bamako bridge crop enh.jpg|Mali Agency in Bamako (left)

File:BCEAO.JPG|Niger Agency in Niamey

File:ZiguinchorBCEAO.jpg|Branch building in Ziguinchor, Senegal

Leadership

Robert Julienne, a French national, was chief executive ({{langx|fr|directeur général}}) of the {{lang|fr|Institut d’émission}}, then of the BCEAO from 1955 to 1974,{{cite web |title=Chronologie des évènements marquants de l'histoire de la BCEAO et de l'UMOA |url=https://www.bceao.int/sites/default/files/inline-files/chronologie_des_evenements_marquants_de_l_histoire_de_la_bceao_et_de_l_umoa.pdf |website=www.bceao.int |publisher=BCEAO}} after which the bank's head held the title of Governor.

{{ill|Abdoulaye Fadiga|fr|Abdoulaye Fadiga (BCEAO)}}, Governor 1975-1988{{cite web |website=bceao.int |title=Abdoulaye Fadiga |url=https://www.bceao.int/fr/content/abdoulaye-fadiga }}
Alassane Ouattara, Governor 1988-1990
Charles Konan Banny, Governor 1990-2005
Justin Damo Baro, Governor 2006-2008
{{ill|Philippe-Henri Dakoury-Tabley|fr}}, Governor 2008-2011
{{Interlanguage link|Jean-Baptiste Compaoré|no|Jean-Baptiste Compaore}}, Governor in 2011
Tiémoko Meyliet Koné, Governor 2011-2022
Jean-Claude Brou, Governor 2022-{{cite web |title=Jean-Claude Kassi Brou Named Governor of Central Bank of West African States - SWFI |url=https://www.swfinstitute.org/news/92915/jean-claude-kassi-brou-named-governor-of-central-bank-of-west-african-states |website=www.swfinstitute.org}}