Morocco: Moves to facilitate SMEs’ access to capital market

A memorandum of understanding to facilitate the access of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the capital market was signed on Wednesday in Casablanca.

The MoU between the Casablanca Stock Exchange, the Moroccan Capital Market Authority (AMMC), the Professional Association of Brokerage Companies (APSB) and Maroclear aims to facilitate SMEs’ access to financing at the level of the alternative market of the Casablanca Stock Exchange.

Integrated and attractive, this offer, the result of long consultation between these institutions, relates, in particular, to reducing the cost of access to the alternative market dedicated to SMEs, by granting a 50% reduction on the commissions of these institutions.

It also involves optimizing market access procedures, in particular through the establishment of a one-stop shop at AMMC level to centralize administrative procedures and the establishment of a training and support for SMEs wishing to raise financing on the capital market.

The signatory parties highlighted the preponderant weight of SMEs in the national economy, noting that their competitiveness and sustainability depends mainly on their ability to raise financing for their development.

In this connection, they underlined the numerous alternative financing solutions offered by the capital market to SMEs, which can thus optimize their financial structures and raise financing on favorable terms, noting however the existence of some obstacles such as the cost of market access, the complexity of the market access process, or the lack of information on different opportunities.

They noted that this offer constitutes a structuring initiative that is consistent with the system put in place for SMEs which make public offerings.

 

They also announced the introduction of more appropriate rules with regard to the governance and transparency of SMEs, allowing an adequate balance between flexibility and ease of access to the market on the one hand, and protection of savings and market integrity on the other hand.

 

This agreement which contributes to the revitalization of the capital markets is “further proof of our desire to make our market an effective tool which plays its role in supporting economic dynamics, particularly in the context of economic recovery and the initiation of the new development model,” the signatories said.