House of Representatives Unanimously Adopts Government Bill 32.20 on Restructuring Crédit Populaire du Maroc

The House of Representatives unanimously approved, Monday, November 2^nd, 2020, the Government Bill 32.20 amending and supplementing Law 12.96 on restructuring the Crédit Populaire du Maroc. The adoption took place during a legislative plenary sitting chaired by Speaker of House of Representatives Habib El Malki and attended by Minister of Economy, Finance, and Administration Reform Mohamed Benchaâboun.

In his presentation, the Minister of Economy, Finance, and Administration Reform exhibited the headlines of Government Bill 32.20, lauding “the constructive debate that marked the works of the Finance and Economic Development Committee at the House of Representatives." The Minister summarized the Bill's headlines in governance, reinforcing own-funds, the strategic vision of Groupe Crédit Populaire, the importance of Law 12.96 that regulates cooperative banks, the role of credit institutions in financing the national economy, in addition to competition between banks.

The Bill is part of accommodating the provisions of the law on Crédit Populaire du Maroc to the provisions of Law 103.12 on credit institutions and similar bodies (Banking Law) through advancing the governance of the Management Committee of the Group.

The Bill also aims to entrench the cooperative aspect of Groupe Crédit Populaire at the regional level and develop banking activities at both the local and regional levels as it owns the biggest share of the capital of the regional branches of Banque Populaire, which enables it to accompany them in their missions and contribute effectively in the economic and social development at the level of regions.

Besides, the Bill aims to reinforce own-funds, as it proposes the decrease of the share owned by the Banque Populaire's regional branches of the capital of Banque Centrale Populaire from 51% to 34%. This will “reinforce the latter's capital base while the regional branches will remain key shareholders in the capital of the Banque Centrale Populaire.”

Considering that the banking sector is one of the key funding resources that economic actors resort to in order to satisfy their in-house resource needs, the strategic vision of the Groupe Crédit Populaire du Maroc has witnessed major transformations in its activities and presence in 30 countries. The growth path has been attached to the increase of regulatory requirements in Morocco and other countries.

It should be noted that Crédit Populaire is composed of three bodies. (1) The Banque Centrale Populaire, which is the Group's financial shield; (2) the regional branches of Banque Populaire that are cooperative banks of variable capital and work under the tutelage of the Supervisory Board; and (3) the Management Committee of Crédit Populaire du Maroc.