Banking Commission of the West African Monetary Union

The Banking Commission of the West African Monetary Union (French: Commission Bancaire de l'Union Monétaire Ouest Africaine, CB-UMOA) is a supranational bank supervisor established in 1990 and based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

It is institutionally part of the Central Bank of West African States (French acronym BCEAO) and is the single banking supervisor for the eight countries of the West African Monetary Union (UMOA), namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.

In 1989, BCEAO Governor Alassane Ouattara promoted the creation of a single banking supervisory authority for the entire West African Monetary Union, in a context of banking sector fragility in West Africa and widespread supervisory failure by the then-existing national banking commissions of the individual UMOA member states.

[1] The Banking Commission was established by an international convention signed by the participating governments in Ouagadougou on 24 April 1990, complemented by a bilateral agreement between the BCEAO and Ivory Coast on 16 October 1990 to establish the Commission in Abidjan with appropriate privileges and immunities.

[citation needed] The governor of the BCEAO acts as chairman (French: Président) of the CB-UMOA, whose operations are led by a secretary-general (French: Secrétaire général) based in Abidjan.