A protest by health workers in the city of Gbadolite, in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo, has drawn attention to the broader difficulties facing Afriland First Bank RDC, which has been under provisional administration since June 20, 2022.
Medical staff say they have not received bonuses and salary payments processed through the bank’s local branch. But data published by the Central Bank of Congo (BCC) at the end of December 2025 shows that the bank’s problems run much deeper.
According to those figures, Afriland reported negative net banking income of $4.68 million, while the country’s banking sector as a whole posted positive net banking income of $2.241 billion.
Net banking income — roughly equivalent to a bank’s operating revenue — includes interest margins on loans, commissions, and results from financial operations. When the figure turns negative, it indicates that a bank’s core activity no longer generates net income.
A loan portfolio under pressure
By the end of 2025, Afriland held $124.9 million in customer deposits and $175 million in gross loans. But a large share of those loans — about 70% granted to private companies — is no longer generating interest.
Only $37.8 million of the loan portfolio, or 21.6%, is considered performing. To reflect the deterioration in asset quality, the bank has set aside provisions of $131.9 million for nonperforming loans.
At the same time, Afriland has lost part of its public-sector payment business, which had been an important source of commissions. In 2025, the bank was stripped of contracts to manage salary payments for teachers and operational funds for schools in five administrative regions.
Authorities cited payment delays and other irregularities. The contracts covered about 29,513 public employees and 2,039 schools, representing monthly flows of roughly 12 billion Congolese francs.
Rising recapitalization needs
By the end of 2025, Afriland reported losses of $50.4 million and negative equity of $116.9 million. The situation increases the bank’s recapitalization needs at a time when banks operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo must meet a minimum capital requirement of $50 million, a rule in effect since January 2025.
As early as March 2022, the Central Bank of Congo estimated that Afriland required about $90 million in additional capital.
That assessment was contested by the bank’s majority shareholder, Afriland First Group (AFG), controlled by Cameroonian businessman Paul Kammogne Fokam. The group, which said it held 95.6% of the bank’s shares, argued that the evaluation was conducted while the institution was already under close supervisory monitoring.
The enhanced oversight had been introduced in August 2021 following a governance crisis triggered by the suspension of the bank’s chief executive by the chairman of the board. Before that episode, Afriland’s equity stood at about $48.05 million.
AFG said it would consider recapitalizing the bank only after a joint audit with the central bank — a condition the regulator did not accept. On June 20, 2022, the BCC placed Afriland First Bank RDC under provisional administration.
A seven-member management team led by Mudiay Mpinga was appointed to act as an interface with stakeholders and prepare a restructuring plan within 180 days.
Risk of shareholder wipeout
On December 27, 2022, a week after the end of the team’s initial mandate, a new law governing credit institutions was enacted. Less than a month later, on January 20, 2023, the same team was reappointed, but under a different mandate: Afriland was placed under a resolution regime.
Under the new legal framework, resolution represents the final stage of banking supervision and recovery. It is applied when a bank’s situation threatens its solvency and long-term viability, potentially putting depositors and creditors at risk.
The process aims to enable rapid restructuring. But the figures at the end of 2025 show that three years into the crisis, the two core objectives — restoring profitability and solvency — have not yet been achieved.
In fact, the bank’s position appears to have deteriorated since the crisis began in mid-2021.
To facilitate swift action, Congolese law grants broad powers to the resolution commissioner. The commissioner can replace the bank’s governing bodies and decide on measures such as opening the capital to new investors or selling assets.
Given the bank’s financial situation, the risk that the historical majority shareholder could be wiped out appears increasingly high.
Afriland First Group has already suggested that such a scenario may be underway. In a statement released on February 12, 2026, reacting to the protest by health workers in Gbadolite, the holding company said it had been “removed” from the capital of Afriland First Bank RDC by the Congolese state and its central bank.
The group said it has launched arbitration proceedings before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) to challenge what it describes as an “expropriation” and to seek compensation.
Pierre Mukoko, Bankable