INTER-AFRICAN CONFERENCE ON INSURANCE
MARKETS (CIMA)
Organization, Expectations, Challenges and Outlook
I- ORGANIZATION
A/ Treaty and Member States
Treaty Signature:
July 10, 1992 in Yaoundé (Republic of Cameroon):
Signature of the Treaty establishing an integrated
organization of the insurance industry in the African
States.
Signatories:
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon,
Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger,
Senegal, Chad and Togo.
New member: Guinea Bissau, April 14, 2002 in Yaoundé.
B/ CIMA’s constituent bodies
B 1°/ Council of Ministers
This is the governing body of the Conference. It:
- ensures political coherence of the institutional mechanisms;
- establishes CIMA’s budget;
- appoints members of the Regional Commission for Insurance Supervision
(Commission régionale de contrôle des assurances, CRCA) and the
managers of the General Secretariat;
- defines, modifies or augments common regulations;
-
interprets the provisions of the Insurance Code;
- hears appeals filed by companies against decisions rendered by the
CRCA;
- holds two (2) regular meetings each year.
The Chairmanship is occupied by each Member State in rotation.
It is composed of the Finance Ministers of CIMA’s Member States.
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B 2°/ Regional Commission for Insurance Supervision (Commission régionale
de contrôle des assurances, CRCA)
CRCA is the regulatory body of the Conference. It:
-
is responsible for documents-based and on-site monitoring of insurance
companies;
- provides general oversight and helps organize national insurance markets;
- expresses an opinion on licensing requests from insurance companies and
their managers. The granting of such licenses by the Ministry responsible
for insurance is subject to this opinion;
-
ensures that the provisions of the law are respected;
-
possesses the widest sanctioning powers: e.g., warnings, reprimands,
limitation or interdiction of some or all o