Casablanca Finance City, Istanbul Financial Center Sign Strategic Partnership

Marrakech – Casablanca Finance City Authority (CFCA) and Istanbul Financial Center (IFC) signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday to strengthen financial cooperation between Turkiye, Morocco, and the African continent.

The agreement was signed at IFC headquarters in Istanbul by CFCA CEO Saïd Ibrahimi and IFC Director General Ahmet İhsan Erdem. It marks a new phase in both institutions’ efforts to deepen cross-border investment flows and regional financial integration.

The partnership covers joint initiatives in green finance and digital finance, academic training programs, and promotional campaigns targeting financial institutions, multinational regional headquarters, holdings, and professional service providers. Both centers aim to establish a financial corridor between Istanbul and Casablanca to deepen economic ties between Eurasia and Africa.

Ibrahimi described the deal as a step toward converting trade momentum into lasting investment ties. Bilateral trade between Morocco and Turkiye reached a historic level of $5 billion in 2025, he noted, calling it “a turning point.” The objective now is to “transform this commercial dynamic into deeper cooperation, firmly oriented toward investment.”

Casablanca Finance City, he argued, is “ideally positioned to channel these capital flows” and to serve as “a reliable gateway for Turkish institutions seeking to sustainably develop their presence on the African continent.”

Erdem, for his part, framed the partnership as a vehicle for “supporting the emergence of new business opportunities” across the financial ecosystems of Turkiye, Morocco, and Africa. Cooperation with international financial centers, he noted, is “an essential step to strengthen Istanbul’s position in regional and global financial ecosystems.”

He pointed to CFC’s continental reach, calling it “one of Africa’s leading financial hubs” with “major influence across the entire continent.” As economic and commercial ties between Turkiye and Africa continue to grow, Erdem expressed confidence the cooperation “will generate new opportunities for the financial sector.”

In a separate interview with Yeni Şafak English, Erdem explained that the agreement builds on existing collaboration within the World Alliance of International Financial Centers.

The deal aims to “facilitate knowledge exchange and targeted sector cooperation” by “mutually integrating their regional networks” to drive “strategic, win-win opportunities for businesses across both nations and their broader regions.”

The partnership adds to CFCA’s expanding network of international alliances, which already includes agreements with TheCityUK, Luxembourg for Finance, the Qatar Financial Centre, Finance Montréal, and Singapore’s financial ecosystem.

The bilateral economic relationship already has a solid base. More than 250 Turkish companies operate in Morocco, representing nearly $1 billion in investments and approximately 20,000 jobs. Both sides now seek to build on that foundation through joint investments, innovation, and deeper institutional cooperation.

Created in 2010, CFCA manages Casablanca Finance City, ranked as Africa’s top financial center by the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI). The platform currently hosts nearly 280 international companies operating across 53 African countries.

The agreement positions both Istanbul and Casablanca as connectors between Europe, the Mediterranean, and Africa, with the stated goal of expanding cross-border capital flows and deepening financial integration across these regions.