Morocco’s Competition Council accelerates electronic payment market opening

Since May 1, 2025, payment institutions and banking subsidiaries dedicated to acquisition services, with proper authorization, can operate in Morocco’s electronic payment market and commercialize their offerings, the Competition Council announced.

The Council recently held a follow-up meeting on dismantling the quasi-monopoly held by the Centre Monétique Interbancaire (CMI) in the electronic payment market. Besides CMI and its shareholder banks, the meeting included representatives from Bank Al-Maghrib and payment establishments.

The gathering follows the implementation of commitments made by electronic payment market players to introduce competitive dynamics and break CMI’s near-monopoly on acquisition activities. This market opening results from Decision No. 152/D/2024, adopted by the Competition Council on October 31, 2024, which imposes a structural transformation of CMI, requiring it to transfer its merchant membership contracts and reposition itself as a technical processing platform.

The Council’s decision aims to correct a situation where CMI dominated the electronic payment market almost exclusively, hindering the development of new players and diversification of electronic payment services. Competition between multiple operators should now promote improved offerings, lower costs for merchants, and accelerated sector modernization.

As part of this reform, CMI has committed to transferring all merchant membership contracts to payment establishments or banking subsidiaries dedicated to acquisition, while prohibiting any new customer solicitation since November 1, 2024. It must also guarantee fair and non-discriminatory access to its processing services for all market players, ensuring competitive neutrality.

CMI’s shareholder banks have agreed to guarantee the legal and economic independence of their acquisition subsidiaries, allowing them functional and accounting autonomy. While they cannot directly market terminal payment equipment affiliation offers and online payment, they remain authorized to promote acquisition activity to their clients.

The Competition Council recently examined the first semi-annual report on the application of commitments by CMI and shareholder banks, covering the period from November 1, 2024, to April 30, 2025. The Council welcomed progress made, particularly in preparing CMI’s transformation into a technical processing and acquisition platform.

The transition from a single-acquirer model to a multi-acquirer architecture is proceeding without disruption or quality decline, ensuring service continuity and expected security levels during the transition phase.

The Council will conduct regular monitoring until the end of the transitional period, set for November 1, 2025, when the sector should be fully liberalized.