Central Africa’s banking regulator is taking a closer look at how customer funds move through intermediaries in the region’s expanding digital payments market, after finding that some funds sometimes pass directly through the accounts of payment providers and aggregators.
The Central African Banking Commission (COBAC) discussed the issue on September 25, 2026, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, during the 15th annual meeting between its president and banking and financial industry representatives. According to the meeting’s final statement, discussions covered relations between payment providers and aggregators, the accounting treatment of certain transactions and risks tied to the circulation of customer funds.
The statement does not disclose the amounts involved, identify any institutions or specify which transactions prompted the concerns. COBAC also announced no new regulatory requirements at this stage.
In particular, the statement does not indicate whether the regulator plans new rules for safeguarding customer funds, separating them in financial accounts, reporting transactions or subjecting aggregators to a specific regulatory framework. The Malabo discussions nonetheless show that COBAC is now explicitly examining the routes customer funds take between intermediaries in the digital payments chain.
Customer fund flows through aggregators face scrutiny
Aggregators serve, among other roles, as technical or commercial links between different participants in digital financial services. COBAC is examining how certain transactions that involve these intermediaries are recorded and, more importantly, how customer funds may pass through their accounts.
The scrutiny comes amid growth in digital payments across the subregion. At the Malabo meeting, Orange Money Cameroon CEO William Nlembe presented the opportunities that mobile money expansion offers for financial inclusion.
At the same time, COBAC highlighted risks associated with the expansion of these services, including fraud, cybercrime and failures to comply with anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing rules. The regulator called for stronger controls and better transaction traceability.
In Cameroon, that oversight applies to an ecosystem where mobile money operators, payment providers, banks, fintech companies and technical intermediaries can all participate in the same transaction chain. COBAC’s statement, however, names no company or individual case.
Microfinance institutions report difficulties accessing USSD codes
The Malabo discussions also highlighted difficulties some microfinance institutions face in obtaining access to USSD codes. Participants described such access as an “essential lever” for the development of digital financial services.
The statement does not identify the institutions involved or the operators with which they have encountered difficulties. It also does not say whether the obstacles are technical, pricing-related, commercial or regulatory.
B.E