News

2011 Milestones

Branch opening:

Advans Cameroun strengthened its geographical coverage during 2011 with the opening of three new branches reaching a total of ten through the country as at December 2011.

In May the institution opened its fourth branch in Douala, in the district of Bonamoussadi, underlining the entrepreneurial dynamism of the economic capital. It was followed by the opening of the Bamenda-Central branch in September. Bamenda-Central is the first branch of the network to be opened in the English speaking North West province and it extends the branch network to a fourth city in Cameroon. Since December 2011, Advans Cameroun is also present in the North in Garoua, where branch number 10 of the network was opened. Its inauguration ceremony gathered many local entrepreneurs.

Advans Cameroun is currently covering five main regions in the country including Douala, Yaoundé, Bafoussam, Bamenda and Garoua. The institution forecasts to open three more branches in the next twelve months and to increase its presence in the North and South West, in order to get closer to the population and provide them with the best products for the development of their activities.

New products:

Advans Cameroun offers a wide range of products to its clients: deposits and withdrawals in all the network branches, cheque clearing, wire transfer and SMS information of their account balance. The institution is continuously looking to improve its product and service offer to satisfy the need of its clients. As such it launched Shariah-compliant deposit accounts dedicated to the Muslim community which is particularly present in the Northern regions.

2012 will be also a year dedicated to the expansion of its products range through the launch of ATM cards (“Advans Easy cash”) that can be used in all SGBC ATMs in Cameroun. In addition, the institution has recently introduced money transfer and payment via mobile phones (“Monifone”). New products to be launched include short term products for supplier financing, factoring and imported goods customs clearance financing.

Events:

On May 19, 2011 Advans Cameroun signed a Business Edge agreement with the International Finance Institution (IFC). This agreement will allow a number of Advans SME clients to benefit from practical management training. As of the end of year 2011, about a hundred of Cameroonian SMEs benefited from this training.

Key events in 2010

Opening of the Bafoussam Branch:

On the 3 December 2010, Advans Cameroun opened a branch in Bafoussam, capital of the West region of Cameroon. It was the second branch opening in 2010, after the Bonabéri branch started operations on the 30 April 2010 in the city of Douala, region Littoral. The network of Advans Cameroun now counts 7 branches over the Cameroonian territory and plans to keep extending to get closer to its clientele.

New products and services:

With the objective of satisfying the needs of its clientele, Advans Cameroun continued broadening its range of products and services. Since February 2010, branches are opened on Saturdays and holydays. Innovative products were designed, either to support clients in the realization of a specific project (Advans Project Account), or to facilitate the use of deposit accounts, in particular thanks to internal checkbooks, operations notices on deposit accounts or installment notices by SMS. In the coming weeks, Advans Cameroun will introduce electronic means of payment, as well as on-site collection of deposits.

Signing of a financing convention with AFD:

The signing of a double financing convention with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) on the 24 June 2010 contributed to the efforts deployed by Advans Cameroun to serve the market of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in Cameroon. Advans Cameroon was granted a FCFA 377 million (EUR 575,000) subvention allocated to finance the adaptation of its products and organization to the SME market segment, as well as to the provision of non-financial services to SMEs. In addition, to support the growth of Advans Cameroun’s loan portfolio, the AFD granted its ARIZ guarantee to a refinancing loan contracted by Advans Cameroun, as well as to loans offered by Advans Cameroun to some of its SME clients.

Advans Cameroun receives support from IFC

Advans SA SICAR is pleased to announce that Advans Cameroun benefited from IFC’s support in 2010, in the form of a local currency refinancing loan.

Read the press release

August 2009 - Advans Cameroun capital increase

Read the press release

Advans Cameroun increases capital and welcomes IFC as new shareholder

June 2008 — Advans Cameroun is pleased to announce the completion of its capital increase from an initial share capital of 500 million CFA francs (EUR 0.762 million) to 1 billion CFA francs (EUR 1.52 million). This capital increase allowed Advans Cameroun to welcome the International Finance Corporation (IFC) as a shareholder. The shareholding structure following the capital increase is as follows: Advans S.A. SICAR (Advans SA) 57.5%; IFC 19%; SGBC (Société Générale de Banques au Cameroun) 20%; and two prominent and respected Cameroonian entrepreneurs 3.5%.

This capital increase will help Advans Cameroun fulfill its ambitious development plan and loan portfolio growth. In May and June 2008, Advans Cameroun opened two additional branches, in Yaoundé and Douala.