(Business in Cameroon) - On July 7, 2021, the Bank of Central African States (BEAC)’s Financial Standardization Technical Committee CORENOFI came out of its decades-long hibernation. It was reactivated by Abbas Mahamat Tolli (photo), governor of the BEAC, during a meeting in Douala.
According to a note published at the end of the meeting, the CORENOFI is being reactivated in a context where electronic payment systems are particularly advanced, electronic money and instant transfers are developed, while interoperability is also ongoing in the CEMAC region. Also, new financial actors have appeared, issuing and managing payment instruments. Therefore, as all these novelties were not around when the CORENOFI was created in 2002, it has been decided that it will be reconfigured in line with the current configuration of the CEMAC monetary and financial world.
The reactivated institution will develop technical norms and standards applicable to the bank and finance industry. Notably, it will set the type, format, and content of the information exchanged by financial institutions and security norms for payments systems, interoperability, and interbanking.
It will adopt tools and resources through which it can regulate the new payment methods in vogue in the region. For instance, it will make sure the BEAC electronic money rules enforceable since December 1, 2018, are respected. The rules provide that all the interbank transactions carried out in the CEMAC region through interoperable payment cards or electronic money wallets created by a financial institution operating in the region must be cleared and settled in XAF, which is the official currency.
Article 16 of the central bank rules provides for "a fine of XAF2,000 per day, per card or per electronic wallet” issued by members of its network or managers of electronic payment platforms that violate the provision.
For Article 17, it provides for a penalty equal to 150% of the commission the issuing financial institution, or electronic payment systems managers collected on the transaction it cleared in other currencies other than the officially approved one in the region.
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