Benefiting from years of reforms and restructuring, the Moroccan banking system today is using its homegrown strength and stabililty to increase the country’s regional leadership by sharing its knowledge and technology to enable expansion in neighboring countries

Morocco's banks are riding the wave of the country's economic expansion, with profit increasing at a healthy pace. The financial sector is strong, having cleaning up its balance sheet earlier this decade. Bankers are looking to step up expansion at home and abroad with the help of recent legal reforms.

“The Moroccan banking system is globally solid and profitable, benefiting from the reforms carried out during recent decades, and playing an important role in the development of the financial system and in the growth of the Moroccan economy,” says Othman Benjelloun, President of the Moroccan Banking Association and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Banque Marocain du Commerce Exterieur.

The country's lenders are eager to continue their work of spurring economic growth, and banks including Benjelloun's BMCE, one of the biggest in the country, and the Groupes de Banques Populaires have ambitious programs in place to increase the number of people who use banks.

Until recently only 20% of Moroccans made some use of banking services, providing lenders with a fertile field for expansion at home. Banks are taking advantage of the opportunity by extending their branch networks to get closer to potential clients, and by offering new and innovate products designed to respond to their customers' needs.

Moroccan financial institutions are also looking to increase their country's regional leadership by growing in neighboring countries. “To help inspire economic development and growth, our banks need to expand their international range, which will improve local economies,” states Minister of Finance Salaheddine Mezouar.

The Casablanca Stock Exchange, one of the biggest in Africa, also wants to expand in the region and help other countries' economies grow. The bourse has plans to aid other African financial markets by sharing its technology. The exchange wants to entice companies from nearby countries to take advantage of the larger economy in Morocco and the greater liquidity in Casablanca's bourse.

The current local and international initiatives should give the financial sector a solid base for expansion for many years to come.