Created in 1975 and headquartered in Brazzaville, the capital of the Congo, the bank is owned mainly by the states of the central African sub-region: Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad.
A former finance minister and prime minister of the Central African Republic, Anicet Georges Dologuélé, was named president of the bank in August 2001 following a management shake-up and has since conducted a major overhaul of its practices, improving its financial health. In three years, the BDEAC has paid back all its debt, reinforced its shareholder equity and improved its solvency ratio from 109% in 2001 to 199% last year. Its operating loss was reduced from CFA Fr982m ($1.9m) in 2001 to CFA Fr50m last year.
