(Business in Cameroon) - In a press release issued on February 3rd, 2021, Charles Rollin Ombang Ekath, Chief Executive Officer of "La Régionale", (a Cameroonian microfinance institution) announced that his institutions started procedures to get listed on the Central African Stock Exchange (Bvmac) based in Douala.
"The aim of this operation is to raise the capital from XAF8.04 billion fully paid up and validated by the Cobac [regulator of the Central African banking sector] to over XAF15 billion for the transformation of La Régionale into a universal bank," Ombang Ekath explains.
The CEO also indicated that brokerage firm Financia Capital was mandated as the financial advisor and arranger that will assist La Régionale in the IPO process.
The forthcoming transformation of La Régionale into a universal bank (institutions that carry out all banking and financial operations) portends direct competition with CCA-Bank. Indeed, CCA-Bank was also a financial institution before becoming a universal bank in May 2018. The two will therefore be competing in the same market segment, different from commercial banks (individuals, companies, and public authorities), investment banks (corporate finance), or investment banks (IPOs and bond issuance operations).
Established in 1993, La Régionale is a leading local microfinance institution. However, the institution went through some trouble times. In early 1998 La Régionale had already accumulated losses estimated to be over XAF1 billion. Because of that poor performance, its management was dismissed, and later that year (in 1998), shareholders injected fresh capital into the institution. Thanks to those new contributions, the microfinance institution started regaining its lost grounds.
As of December 31st, 2020, its net equity was about XAF10 billion, its net profit XAF1.5 billion and its customer base was 110,000 clients through a network of 41 branches in Cameroon. In Gabon, the microfinance institution has four branches.
Sylvain Andzongo