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The founder and CEO of Coris Bank International has filed an application to enter Cameroon's banking market, the latest move in a regional expansion strategy that has turned a $3 million startup in Ouagadougou into a financial institution managing over $9 billion in assets across more than 10 African markets.
Coris Bank, headquartered in Burkina Faso, submitted the application to regulators in Cameroon and across the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), a six-country bloc that includes Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and the Central African Republic. A source at Cameroon's Ministry of Finance confirmed the filing is recent.
The regulatory path runs through the Central African Banking Commission, known as COBAC, which must grant approval before Cameroon's finance ministry can issue its own clearance. COBAC also oversees the appointment of senior banking executives in the region.
Nassa's timing is deliberate. Since January 1, 2025, COBAC has operated a single licensing framework that allows any bank already authorized in one CEMAC country to open branches across the bloc, subject to regulatory sign-off. Coris Bank already operates in Chad following its acquisition of Société Générale Chad in early 2024. That existing footprint makes it eligible to apply under the new framework without starting from scratch.
The group appears confident the application will succeed. Sources say the Ouagadougou headquarters recently convened a meeting to begin integrating a future Cameroonian subsidiary into Gimacpay, the interoperable payments platform run by the Central African Interbank Monetary Group. Gimacpay links banks, microfinance institutions and mobile money operators across CEMAC, enabling transfers, payments and cross-border QR transactions. The fact that integration work has already started signals that Nassa's team is treating the regulatory outcome as a question of when, not if.
Cameroon is not just another market on the checklist. It accounts for roughly 40% of the CEMAC banking network and consistently absorbs up to 60% of total bank lending to economic agents across the subregion, according to data from the Bank of Central African States. The combined net profit of banks operating in Cameroon exceeded CFA 200 billion in 2024, a figure that represents a 254% increase over five years. That kind of trajectory pulls capital in.
If COBAC and the finance ministry approve the application, Coris Bank would become the 20th bank operating in Cameroon, adding a West African-owned institution to a market historically dominated by French and pan-African banking groups.
The Cameroon bid fits a pattern. Nassa built Coris from a microfinance institution into the third-largest banking group in the West African Monetary Union in under two decades, accumulating close to 10% market share in the bloc. Along the way, he picked up Standard Chartered's retail book in Côte d'Ivoire, acquired Société Générale's Chadian subsidiary, and received the Africa CEO Forum's CEO of the Year award in 2025. He is also in discussions to establish a presence in Gabon and is evaluating a potential acquisition in Mauritania.
One shadow hangs over the Cameroon push. Coris Bank previously attempted to acquire Société Générale's Cameroonian subsidiary and was blocked by local authorities. The new application is a fresh approach through the COBAC single-license route. Whether Cameroonian regulators take a different view this time around remains the central question.
Rising non-performing loans, up 14.5% across the CEMAC banking system in 2024, add a note of caution to an otherwise attractive market. Still, for a bank that started with $3 million and now manages $9 billion, Nassa has navigated tighter odds before.
