Wafa Assurances Vie to operate in Cameroon

The Cameroonian subsidiary of the Moroccan insurance company Wafa assurances Vie can now launch its activities.

The experts Committee of the Inter-African Conference of Insurance Markets (CIMA), the regulatory authority in the insurance sector in Central and Western Africa, endorsed during an ordinary session held in Yaoundé from 28 March to 6 April 2016, the favourable opinions already delivered by the Cameroonian Ministry of Finance and the Regional Insurance Control Commission of CIMA.

The new company, according to the previsions of its shareholders, plans to develop the life insurance market in Cameroon by using the distribution network of the Société Commerciale de Banque (SCB Cameroun), bank subsidiary of the Moroccan group Attijariwafa, who also owns Wafa assurances.

Aside from Cameroon, this Moroccan insurance company is already present in Senegal and Tunisia, where the banking subsidiaries of its parent company Attijariwafa Bank were also used to launch it. In addition to Cameroon, CIMA has also issued to Wafa assurances the approvals to operate in Côte d'Ivoire through two companies: Wafa assurances Côte d'Ivoire SA, Wafa assurances Vie Côte d'Ivoire.

As a reminder, Cameroon currently has 23 insurance companies, including 16 non-life companies and 7 life companies. According to CIMA statistics, these companies had a turnover of FCfa 154.2 billion in 2012, thus confirming the 2nd place of Cameroon in the CIMA zone, behind Côte d'Ivoire.

BRM