Rabat – Participatory banks will finally be able to commence their activities, after having received the approval of Bank Al Maghrib (BAM) and the board of Higher Council of Ulemas’ top experts to open accounts on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, July 25, the Moroccan central banks issued its conventions of opening of accounts for participatory banks, after being officially endorsed by the Higher Council of the Ulemas. This is a crucial step for the official start of activities, as participatory banks, despite having already opened their doors, had been so far limited to offering information services to their clients.
After a long period of suspense, customers will finally be able to open their first ‘Islamic’ accounts this Wednesday with the banks, as tests on the clearing system between banks have been successfully completed.
At the forefront, Bank Assafa, a subsidiary of Attijariwafa Bank, is effectively starting activities this Wednesday, two days after launching a communication campaign. As for Umnia Bank, the participatory subsidiary of CIH Bank and Qatar International Islamic has already experienced its first communication crisis, when one of its posters covered up a popular mural in Marrakech.
Back on July 13, the Governing Council adopted two draft decrees on the Sukuk and Takaful. It is expected that within the next few days, models of standard contracts relating to the financing of Murabaha real estate will also be transmitted to the banks to allow them to grant initial financing in this framework.
During the presentation of the annual report on banking supervision last week, in addition to the Mourabaha accounting agreements and contracts, BAM finalized the standard ijara financing contract with a view to its forthcoming transmission to the Council.
