Morocco’s financial authorities are mobilizing against the rise of internet fraud and cybercrime more broadly. Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) and the National Financial Intelligence Authority (ANRF) jointly organized a national workshop in Rabat dedicated to combating phishing-type financial fraud, aimed at raising awareness of the risks involved and strengthening prevention mechanisms. The workshop forms part of preparatory work ahead of Morocco’s upcoming annual evaluation by the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (GAFIMOAN).
ANRF president Jawhar Nfissi told participants that financial fraud is rising both nationally and internationally amid the accelerating digitization of financial services and the generalization of digital usage. He stressed that these practices, which rely heavily on psychological manipulation and social engineering techniques, represent a growing threat to consumer protection, the integrity of the financial system and the security of financial flows — taking increasingly sophisticated forms including phishing operations, fake banking messages, malicious links spread on social media, and impersonation of financial and public institutions.
Nfissi recalled that a dedicated commission to combat financial fraud, coordinated by the ANRF and bringing together the main supervisory and oversight authorities, was created in February 2025 and has already produced a study on the issue. He used the workshop to call on relevant stakeholders to continue coordinating their efforts to consolidate Morocco’s gains in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.
Nabil Badr, Director of Banking Supervision at Bank Al-Maghrib, said financial fraud has evolved considerably in recent years, with fraudsters now directly targeting financial service users through social engineering techniques designed to induce them to voluntarily disclose confidential information. He noted that BAM has progressively strengthened its regulatory and prudential framework to adapt to the banking sector’s digital transformation while maintaining a high level of security and flexibility, publishing a best-practices guide for credit institutions on strengthening anti-phishing systems in July 2024, followed by a second guide in July 2026.
The ANRF functions as Morocco’s national Financial Intelligence Unit, an independent administrative authority attached to the Head of Government, tasked with coordinating anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing efforts across government departments, public institutions and other public and private legal entities. Its creation responded both to international standards — notably FATF Recommendation 29 — and to the growing global trend of financial intelligence units serving as central national coordinators in this domain.
