RABAT, July 3 – Morocco’s central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), is looking to fintech startups to help reduce the country’s dependence on cash as it steps up efforts to expand digital payments and modernise the financial system.
Speaking at the closing ceremony of the Morocco Fintech Booster programme, BAM Director General Abderrahim Bouazza said fintech companies have an important role to play in making digital financial services more accessible and addressing long standing challenges in the country’s payment system.
Despite recent regulatory reforms and advances in technology, cash remains the preferred means of payment for many Moroccans. Bouazza said this is driven by factors such as the informal economy, demand for privacy, precautionary savings and the growing use of crypto assets outside the traditional banking system.
The central bank also noted that wider adoption of digital payments has been slowed by limited acceptance among merchants, gaps in financial inclusion, particularly in rural communities and among women, as well as the slow digitisation of public payments.
To encourage innovation, BAM has introduced several reforms in recent years, including opening the market to payment institutions, launching an interoperable mobile payment system and easing regulatory requirements for new entrants in 2024.
The bank is now preparing to roll out an Open Banking framework that will support services such as payment initiation, account aggregation, digital identity verification and credit scoring, giving fintech firms more room to develop new financial products.
BAM also said it will continue simplifying regulations, speed up the processing of fintech applications and improve regulatory transparency as it works to build a more inclusive, secure and digitally connected financial ecosystem.
