• The DRC removes Afriland First Bank from a payroll portfolio worth $5.3 million.
• Authorities reassign payments for 29,513 teachers and 2,039 schools to other banks.
• The move follows months of delays, irregularities, and union pressure.

A document from the National Directorate for Payroll Control and Workforce Management (DINACOPE), dated November 14, 2025, shows that Afriland First Bank RDC has been stripped of its contract to pay teachers and cover operating expenses for schools across five areas of the country. The portfolio reassigned to other financial institutions represents 29,513 employees, 2,039 schools, and a monthly volume of about 12 billion Congolese francs, roughly $5.3 million, according to the document reviewed by Bankable.

Under the new arrangement, FirstBank will now handle payments in Gemena Ville in Sud-Ubangi. Equity BCDC takes over Idiofa in Kwilu; FINCA will run operations in Tshikapa 1 in Kasaï; IFOD takes charge in Yumbi in Maï-Ndombe; and TMB assumes control in Nyunzu in Tanganyika, DINACOPE said. The shift highlights internal problems that have weakened Afriland’s performance on this segment.

Officials cite payment delays and a series of irregularities attributed to Afriland First Bank RDC as reasons for the reassignment. The decision follows repeated complaints from teachers’ unions and elected representatives in the affected areas, who accused the bank of poor practices and called for payroll services to be moved to other institutions such as Equity BCDC, FINCA, or TMB.

Grievances had been building for months: payment delays of two to three months, allegedly unlawful deductions, obstacles during payment, selective disbursements, insufficient facilities at payment sites, and the absence of banking benefits. In Idiofa, in the Kwilu province, the teachers’ union even threatened to strike beginning November 7 if no solution was found. In a letter to the national finance minister, national lawmaker Boris Mbuku Laka explicitly requested that teacher payroll be transferred away from Afriland First Bank.

On September 12, 2025, Afriland First Group, headquartered outside the DRC, issued a statement distancing itself from Afriland First Bank CD, which has been under provisional administration since July 2021 following a decision by the Central Bank of Congo. The group said the DRC subsidiary is now fully managed by the Congolese government, which it accused of seeking to “strip” the original shareholders. The group added that it has taken its dispute with the government to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), where proceedings have been under way since August 2023.

Timothée Manoke, Bankable