A proven model: lessons from France’s Caisse des Dépôts

The French experience with its Caisse des Dépôts demonstrates how dormant savings can be transformed into a powerful engine for structural development. This is achieved through three core mechanisms:

• The centralization of regulated resources (such as Livret A savings accounts, notarial funds, and inactive accounts) within a secure public institution.
• The conversion of short-term deposits into long-term loans, backed by a state guarantee.
• A significant leverage effect, where every euro of centralized savings is directed towards financing crucial infrastructure projects like social housing, urban regeneration, fiber optic networks, and transport systems.

Cameroon’s CDEC mirrors this successful architecture. Its mandate is to collect, safeguard, and ensure the long-term profitability of resources that typically lie idle, channeling them strategically to support public policy objectives.

CDEC’s progress: measurable momentum

Available data confirms that CDEC is already gaining significant traction:

Legal framework and mobilizable resource categories

The 2008 law and its 2011 implementing decree delineate CDEC’s resources into four distinct categories: deposits (including notary funds and inactive bank accounts), administrative consignments (such as guarantees for public contracts), judicial consignments (like bail and court settlements), and a fourth category of assimilated funds.

Coercive collection mechanism

A Prime Minister’s decree, issued on December 1, 2023, introduced a stringent measure, compelling banks, insurance companies, notaries, and court registries to transfer their consigned funds within a specified timeframe. Non-compliance incurs penalties, including external audits and late interest calculated at the BEAC’s marginal lending facility rate plus two points. This robust legal framework is designed to ensure the effective and rapid accumulation of resources.

Three-year results

Director General Richard Evina Obam has reported the centralization of over 151 billion FCFA (approximately 260 million USD) three years after the institution became operational. While this figure is substantial, it remains proportionally well below the identified potential, with earlier estimates suggesting more than 1,000 billion FCFA lay dormant within the banking system.

The transformation into an infrastructure tool: the banking subsidiary

The most pivotal element for CDEC’s ambitious infrastructure agenda is the planned creation of a dedicated banking subsidiary, for which a feasibility study commenced in February 2025. This subsidiary is explicitly designed to:

• Assist the State, decentralized territorial communities (CTD), and enterprises in raising capital for infrastructure financing.
• Provide support to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) seeking to participate in public procurement.
• Facilitate initial public offerings (IPOs) and the assessment of new business opportunities.
• Offer long-term financial products, including loans, guarantees, and leasing solutions, tailored to the needs of Cameroonian stakeholders.

This function structurally aligns CDEC with the model of France’s Banque des Territoires, signifying a crucial shift from merely being a custodian of regulated funds to becoming a patient, long-term investor in the nation’s real economy.

Potential application areas in Cameroon

CDEC’s impact is anticipated across several vital sectors:

• Housing: Following the French model of HLM loans from savings funds, CDEC will finance social housing initiatives, including the ambitious 10,000 housing program in Cameroon.
• Urban Infrastructure: Drawing parallels with France’s ANRU and Grand Paris Express, CDEC will support urban road networks and sanitation projects in major cities like Yaoundé and Douala.
• Digital Connectivity: Inspired by France’s rural fiber optic deployment, CDEC aims to extend high-speed broadband coverage beyond Cameroon’s metropolitan areas.
• Local Authorities: Similar to loans provided to French communes, CDEC will finance decentralized territorial communities (CTDs), bolstering the nation’s decentralization efforts.
• Transport: Emulating French motorway concessions, CDEC will contribute to major transport projects, including road corridors, the Port of Kribi, and the development of a national railway hub.

Conditions for success and points of vigilance

A comparative analysis reveals indispensable prerequisites for CDEC’s success; without them, the institution risks remaining an underutilized tool:

• Effectiveness of collection: The persistent reluctance of some banks to transfer due funds (only Allianz Cameroon had completed an effective transfer by the end of 2023) underscores that resource mobilization remains an ongoing challenge.
• Governance and transparency: The institution’s credibility among savers and consignees is paramount and directly influences the volume of voluntary deposits it can attract.
• Technical expertise in project financial engineering: Unlike a simple depositary, financing complex infrastructure demands specialized knowledge in project debt structuring, risk assessment, and the development of robust guarantees.
• Coordination with other funders: Seamless collaboration with other financial partners (such as an implicit Cameroonian Bpifrance, multilateral donors, and the Public Treasury) is essential to avoid duplication of efforts and maximize the overall leverage effect.

In summary, CDEC possesses the legal, institutional, and now operational foundations to emerge as a genuine instrument for infrastructure development, mirroring the successful model of France’s Caisse des Dépôts. Its capacity to transform dormant regulated savings, currently estimated at several hundred billion FCFA, into long-term financing for critical infrastructure offers a credible, endogenous solution to the scarcity of external funding. The announced creation of a dedicated banking subsidiary for infrastructure financing marks a decisive shift from a mere collection mandate to a strategic, structured investment approach. The ultimate success of this transformation will hinge on the effective coercive collection of outstanding funds and the rapid development of internal competencies in project financial engineering.