Disciplinary Control and the Regulatory Compliance of Corporate Governance Stakeholders under CEMAC Banking Laws

Abstract

This work examines bank regulation through the use of disciplinary powers, as a mechanism of strengthening the governance apparatus of banks in the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC). The exercise questions the appropriateness of disciplinary control in containing the phenomena of misconduct and noncompliance by corporate governance stakeholders in a banking enterprise. It is established that the imposition of disciplinary sanctions on a bank and its corporate officers should seek to maintain regulatory compliance, but at the same time, must guarantee their rights to a due process and fair treatment by the banking regulator. Therefore, regulators must be flexible enough to administer disciplinary sanctions that meet the need of instilling order and focus in the bank's corporate government, but not too zealous as to harass governance stakeholders out of focus, hence defeating the very purpose of regulatory control.