Creditinfo Central Africa Begins Operating CEMAC’s Regional Credit Information Bureau
Creditinfo Central Africa (CICA) is now operating the Credit Information Bureau licensed for the CEMAC region (BIC-CEMAC), following the official launch held in Douala on 20 January 2026 in partnership with the Bank of Central African States (BEAC) and with technical assistance from the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
This is an important milestone for the CEMAC financial ecosystem: a modern, region-wide credit information infrastructure designed to strengthen transparency, improve credit risk management, and support broader access to finance, particularly for individuals and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
Why it matters
In many credit markets, lenders and borrowers don’t always have access to the same quality of information. This creates an “information gap” which can make lending slower, more expensive, and more conservative than it needs to be, especially for first-time borrowers and smaller businesses.
A well-governed credit information system helps reduce that gap by enabling regulated financial institutions to make more consistent, data-led decisions and support responsible credit growth and greater confidence in the market.
What’s now live
As part of the implementation phase, 61 financial institutions – including 41 commercial banks and 20 microfinance institutions operating across the CEMAC member states – have been connected to the testing platform and are ready for live operations.
The bureau will be rolled out progressively across the region, with the aim of covering all six CEMAC countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Chad.
What Creditinfo Central Africa is delivering
As the licensed private operator, CICA is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the bureau and for supporting participating institutions with the services that make credit information actionable, including:
- Credit reports that support risk assessment and decisioning
- Credit scoring capabilities to help standardise evaluations
- Secure, scalable technology designed to support regional coverage
- A strong focus on data governance and data quality, which are essential to maximising real-world impact
Satty Saha, Global CEO at Creditinfo Group said: “Our focus is on building trusted infrastructure that strengthens transparency and confidence in the credit market. This will enable lenders to make faster, more informed decisions while ensuring more borrowers – including those traditionally underserved – can access finance on fairer, more inclusive terms.”
What happens next
The bureau operates on a hub-and-spokes model, with a regional hub in Douala and a phased approach to expanding representative coverage across the region.
Over time and in line with the regulatory framework, the ecosystem can be expanded to incorporate additional data sources, such as payment institutions and major service providers. This has the potential to broaden access to credit for people with limited or no traditional credit history, including women, young people, and first-time borrowers.
Learn more
To find out more about Creditinfo Central Africa and the CEMAC bureau, visit creditinfocemac.com.
If you are a participating institution and need support, contact cica.support@creditinfo.com.
Creditinfo Group Awarded World Bank Tender
São Tomé and Príncipe, São Tomé, 19th, April 2021 – Creditinfo Group, the leading global credit information and decision analytics provider, today announces that it was awarded a tender by the Central Bank of São Tomé – represented by AFAP (Agencia Fiduciaria de Administracao de Projectos) who will be handling a project on the delivery and support of Public Credit Registry, financed by the World Bank.
Sao Tome is working with the World Bank with the aim of improving the financial infrastructure in the market, increase access to finance and enhance market stability. Creditinfo has already supported many markets in achieving this goal and was identified as a trusted and reliable partner.
Creditinfo will provide CBS (Credit Bureau Solutions), including Value-Added Products such as the Statistical Score, MyCreditinfo, Benchmarking and Monitoring – the latest and modern cutting-edge products and services in the credit industry, to help the Central Bank of São Tomé in implementing the Public Credit Registry.
Samúel Ásgeir White, Director of Direct Markets, Creditinfo Group is excited about this opportunity. “The important part is the knowledge transfer and our active approach – direct help to the Central Bank of São Tomé, with the whole implementation process of our modern services in São Tomé and Príncipe, since we have years of experience from the Central Banks around the world that we provide the same products and services to,” he said.
The competition was organized by AFAP as a fiduciary agency responsible for the management of the World Bank’s financial support, in favor of the Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe as a borrower, with Creditinfo being elected as winner, among 4 bidders.
On behalf of AFAP, Carlos Bonfim, technical advisor, intervened to congratulate on the conclusion of the contract with Creditinfo, a company whose references allow the prospect of a satisfactory result regarding the updating of the credit risk center of the Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe. He ended by expressing the wish that the quality of the partnership between all stakeholders will continue, in order to create a favorable cooperation climate for the implementation of the project.
-Ends-
About Creditinfo
Established in 1997 and headquartered in London, UK, Creditinfo is a provider of credit information and risk management solutions worldwide. As one of the fastest-growing companies in its field, Creditinfo facilitates access to finance, through intelligent information, software and decision analytics solutions.
With more than 30 credit bureaus running today, Creditinfo has the most considerable global presence in this field of credit risk management, with a significantly greater footprint than competitors. For decades it has provided business information, risk management and credit bureau solutions to some of the largest, lenders, governments and central banks globally to increase financial inclusion and generate economic growth by allowing credit access for SMEs and individuals.
For more information, please visit www.creditinfo.com
About AFAP
AFAP was created in 2004 with the aim of managing funds made available by the technical and financial partners of the Government of São Tomé and Príncipe, of which the World Bank stands out in particular. It has an effective and motivated team and is respectful of the best practices for regulating tenders, and today has a portfolio of projects and partners in constant growth. Within the framework of its performance, the main projects such as the installation of fiber optics in Sao Tome Principe to provide high-speed internet services, education and health for all, improvement of the energy system can be cited as an example of success. electricity, namely hydrocentrals, introduction of alternative energies as well as rehabilitation of main roads, etc.
For more information, the following AFAP website can be viewed: www.afap.st
