872 billion FCFA in total assets, 524.5 billion in direct loans: as of end-July 2026, Commercial Bank-Cameroon (CBC) confirms its place among Cameroon’s leading banks, in a sector under strain.
Customer loans make up 60.1% of the bank’s assets — a level that reflects sustained financing of the economy, even as credit costs rise and non-performing loans persist sector-wide.
The loan book stays heavily short-term: 71.6% of outstanding credit, versus 20.5% medium-term and just 7.9% long-term. On top of that sit 104.62 billion FCFA in interbank and treasury operations, and 225.88 billion in off-balance-sheet guarantees.
Growth has been steady — the balance sheet stood at 836 billion at the end of May, two months earlier. But this short-term concentration cuts both ways: it signals caution in an uncertain environment, while exposing the bank to liquidity risk if the market turns.
The challenge for CBC, as for Cameroon’s banking sector generally, is to lengthen loan maturities to better support SMEs and infrastructure projects over time.
Between end-May and end-July, CBC’s balance sheet grew by 36 billion FCFA in two months — a pace the bank will need to sustain without deepening its short-term exposure.
