On the move: the Moroccan banking industry reports an increase in client numbers and deposits.

Banque Centrale Populaire is the publically traded central services unit of the Groupes des Banques Populaires. The group consists of 11 regional banks, which were originally set up in the 1920's to encourage savings and investment, and BCP.
The group has evolved over the years, and one major step toward becoming a modern banking organization took place when BCP was founded to coordinate the regional bank's financial policy, including raising funds, and to manage their treasury surpluses.

BCP is almost now half-owned by the state, which has a 45% stake, and the regional banks in GBP together own another 21%. Two other Moroccan banks each own close to 5% and the remaining 24% is traded on the Casablanca Stock Exchange.

BCP also has an investment banking subsidiary, BCP Bank, which has four different business units covering activities such as project finance, wealth management and financial trading. BCP Bank is currently working to expand its corporate banking business by increasing its advisory activities.

Groupes des Banques Populaires, or GBP, still takes its mission of extending the use of bank services among Moroccans seriously, and is constantly expanding its network to be closer to its clientele. The group considers educating people regarding the uses of financial products to be part of its mission.

“Increasing the use of banks doesn't just mean opening new branches, it involves taking new clients and showing them how things work, teaching them and preparing them to make deposits, use a checkbook or a credit card, ask for a loan, repay it, present a business plan,” says Noureddine Omary, former President and Chief Executive Officer of BCP.

The bank has had increasing success in this challenge. It already has about 2.5 million clients, which represents between 40% and 45% of the Moroccan bank sector's total clientele. It also recently issued its one millionth credit card.

The bank's success is reflected in its profit figures. Net income at GBP increased 6% in 2007 from a year earlier, to 2.37 billion dirhams ($329 million), and would have grown 19% without one-time items. Client deposits climbed 18% in the period.

BCP had an even more remarkable year. Net interest income at the unit grew 17.4%, boosted by a 65% increase in commission and fee income, and by growth of 37.6% in trading gains. Client deposits more than doubled in the year, to 5.1 billion dirhams ($708 million.)

Now the bank is starting to concentrate more on expanding outside Morocco. GBP already owns three banks abroad, one in Guinea, one in South Africa and one in Paris. The Parisian bank has just received permission from European Union authorities to expand in other countries, Omary says, and has plans to open branches in Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.

The branches, though used mainly by Moroccans in those countries, can also serve as a platform for the bank to expand into other services, Omary points out.

“The primary mission of these branches abroad is to help the Moroccan oversees community, but why not also use them for other international exchanges, such as trade, etc?” he asks.