The application for accreditation as a credit information bureau must be submitted in paper form, according to the prescribed template, and addressed to the Governor of the BEAC, against receipt or acknowledgement of receipt, by the legal representative of the applicant entity or by a duly authorized person.
For information purposes, a copy of the said application, accompanied by the receipt or acknowledgement of receipt, must be sent by the applicant to the Monetary Authorities of the CEMAC Member States.
As part of the review of the application for accreditation of a credit information bureau, the BEAC must, among other things:
- Verify the consistency between the nature of the activities planned by the Credit Information Office and the adequacy of the technical, technological, human, and financial resources envisaged, particularly with regard to the activity program that the applicant intends to implement;
- Evaluate the qualifications of the shareholders, directors, managers, auditors, and external auditors;
- Verify the origin of the funds provided by the promoters for the initial capital of the Credit Information Bureau in Cameroon, as well as the capacity of the main shareholders to provide financial support to the Credit Information Bureau if needed;
- Assess the coherence of the technical architecture envisioned by the Credit Information Bureau for its system for collecting, processing, storing, and disseminating credit information;
- Ensure that the shareholding and governance structures of the Credit Information Bureau and the group to which it belongs will not prevent effective oversight and will not hinder the implementation of corrective measures in the future etc.
As part of the review of an application for approval of a Credit Information Bureau, the BEAC assesses the company's ability to achieve its objectives under the conditions required for the security, reliability and confidentiality of the data collected from credit information providers.
To assess the integrity of shareholders, the BEAC verifies that they are not subject to any of the prohibitions and incompatibilities stipulated by current regulations.
To evaluate the skills and integrity of prospective directors, the BEAC verifies that they are capable of fulfilling their responsibilities and are not subject to any of the prohibitions and incompatibilities stipulated by current regulations.
The BEAC verifies that the proposed external auditors and statutory auditors offer all guarantees of independence from the Credit Information Bureau in Cameroon and any related parties.
The application for accreditation is only considered complete after verification that all required documents are present.