(Business in Cameroon) - The Bank of Central African States (Beac) has officially joined the Sustainable Banking and Finance Network (SBFN), a platform supported by the World Bank that promotes knowledge sharing and capacity building on sustainable finance for financial sector regulators and industry associations in emerging markets. The membership agreement was signed in September 2022 and presented on May 9 in Douala by Dahlia Khalifa, IFC Regional Director for Central Africa, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, and Abbas Mahamat Tolli, Governor of the Central Bank. This presentation was made on the sidelines of an international forum organized by the two institutions under the theme "Pathways to Sustainable Finance."

Beac joins the Central African Financial Market Supervisory Commission (Cosumaf) and 71 other institutions on this platform to promote sustainable finance in the CEMAC region. Abbas Mahamat Tolli, Governor of the Central Bank, said that the central bank's membership "formalizes its commitment to the responsible and sustainable development of the region's financial sector." The Bank intends to take a progressive approach, capitalizing on the experiences of countries that have made strides in this area, to better understand the risks of green assets and promote the development of green financial instruments and products in the Cemac.

Sustainable finance aims to promote the real economy and long-term projects by considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria in financial operations. Beac believes that this financing mechanism will enable Cemac economies to access new types of resources and develop a more resilient financial ecosystem.

As the technical secretariat to SBFN, the IFC will provide technical support to network members in their quest to promote sustainable financing. The Sustainable Banking and Finance Network, initiated in 2012, is open to capital market regulators, central banks, finance and environment ministers, and industry associations from emerging markets committed to sustainable finance.