Morocco’s Top Banker calls for developing Fintech Ecosystem

Governor of Morocco’s Central Bank, Bank Al-Maghrib, Abdellatif Jouahri said that Morocco lags behind in Financial Technology (FinTech), stressing the need for a change of culture to develop the country’s FinTech ecosystem that plays a decisive role in the field of financial inclusion.

Jouahri made the statement at a joint press briefing, he held in Rabat Wednesday with Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, who also serves as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development (UNSGSA).

FinTech refers to the application of technology to provide financial services and products.

The Moroccan top banker stressed role of FinTech, which refers to the application of technology to provide financial services and products, in promoting financial inclusion, as it offers innovative solutions to traditional financial barriers, including high transaction costs, financial illiteracy, and lack of access to banking services.

In this regard, he recalled that the Central Bank has created a one-stop shop to receive fintechs, help them, advise them, and supervise their relations with the banking system.

He also stressed the importance of the incentives put in place by the Government to boost the financial sector, noting that the Central Bank spares no effort in collaborating with other institutions for the promotion of fintechs, including the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGD), the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform, and the Digital Development Agency.

“The objective is to converge the efforts of stakeholders, each in their field, to create an ecosystem of fintechs that can catch up with Morocco, and at the same time make a benchmark that is useful, to determine the incentives for this system to succeed as quickly as possible,” said Jouahri.

On the other hand, the Bank’s Governor pointed out that mobile banking allows safer, faster, and cheaper transactions, stressing that cash is a circuit that favors the financing of terrorism and money laundering, hence the interest in opting for digital.

He stressed, in this context, that Morocco is one of the most cash-dependent countries, so he advocated the payment of social benefits to citizens through the digital channel.

Morocco’s top banker also highlighted a pilot experience launched with the Ministry of National Education, Preschool and Sports, for the “Tayssir” operation, which has yielded positive results, but “not up to expectations”.

Queen Maxima is on a four-day working visit to the North African country, with the aim of extending “support to further advance progress that Morocco has made in financial inclusion in recent years,” said the UNSGSA.