Marrakech – Attijariwafa bank has joined the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), the Chinese infrastructure that handles clearing and settlement for cross-border payments and trade in renminbi (RMB). The move fits the bank’s strategy of supporting the growth of trade between Morocco and China.
Through CIPS, the bank’s corporate and institutional clients in Morocco can access faster and more efficient RMB payment services. The system runs on a market infrastructure that complies with the ISO 20022 messaging standard.
Adil Hajji, Director of Group International Banking at Attijariwafa bank, tied the move to commercial and investment ties, describing it as a way to strengthen the bank’s “capacity to serve trade and investment flows” between the two countries while offering clients the “best settlement channels in RMB.”
The bank outlined three main gains from the step. It expects to secure and streamline the settlement of commercial transactions in RMB. It also aims to cut the delays and complexity tied to correspondent banking chains. And it wants to help clients diversify the currencies they use for settlement.
CIPS gives that ambition a wide reach. Backed by the People’s Bank of China, the system launched in 2015 as part of a policy drive to internationalize the Chinese currency. In 2024, it processed 8.2169 million transactions worth RMB 175.49 trillion ($26.32 trillion). In 2025, that rose to 8.4419 million transactions worth RMB 180.15 trillion ($27.02 trillion).
Its network has kept expanding. As of June 2025, CIPS counted 176 direct participants and 1,514 indirect participants, 61 of them in Africa. Its participants sit in 121 countries and regions, while its business covers more than 4,900 banking institutions across 189 countries and regions.
The CIPS membership is the latest in a series of moves on payments and on China. On September 7, Attijariwafa bank joined the Swift Payments Scheme, a Swift initiative meant to make cross-border payments faster, more predictable, and more transparent.
That step built on a longer link with Swift, since the bank became the first in Morocco to obtain SWIFT gpi (Global Payments Innovation) certification in 2020.
Work on the Swift scheme remains under way. The technical and functional prerequisites are being implemented alongside other international banks, with a gradual rollout expected over the coming months.
The lender has also moved to deepen its commercial relationship with China. In June, Attijariwafa bank signed a memorandum of understanding with the China International Contractors Association (CHINCA).
Youssef Rouissi, Deputy Managing Director for Corporate & Investment Banking, signed for the bank, and Fang Qiuchen, President of CHINCA, signed for the association, with the bank’s Chief Representative in China, Btissam Dakkouni, present.
The agreement targets closer links between Chinese economic players and African markets in infrastructure, energy, and engineering.
Attijariwafa bank ranks among the leading groups on the African continent. Beyond banking, it operates through subsidiaries in insurance, real estate, and consumer credit, leasing, asset management, brokerage, private banking, advisory, long-term rental, and factoring.
It employs more than 22,000 people and manages more than 12 million clients through over 8,000 branches, with a presence in 27 countries.
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