Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva:
A forward-looking North-African country has started a financial hub in its busiest Atlantic-coast city.
Casablanca is Morocco’s largest city as well as its chief port – as well as its economic and business center. The launch of Casablanca Financial City, a custom-made village for large national and foreigninstitutions which want to operate in the region and have access to Africa, was announced this summer in the Moroccan press for November. Abdellatif Jouahri, the governor of the Central bank, Bank Al Maghrib, also said that the urban planning around the nearby Anfa airport had been finalised. Saïd Ibrahimi was named head of the Moroccan Financial Board (MFBoard), a public-private initiative established in 2010, which will oversee the development, promotion and overall management of the City.
The king of Morocco started this project in April 2010 but the idea was apparently born in 2008. Casablanca Financial City (or CFC), which has its own Facebook page, wants to compete directly with Tunis, Cairo, and other places in MENA.
Morocco’s decision to create this brand new hub is set to play a pivotal role in the country’s ambitious programme of economic development, according to a client briefing written by Clifford Chance’s partnerMustapha Mourahib and capital markets associate Ouns Lemseffer.
Morocco’s ambitious plans for growth – which have been going on for the past decade – are also set to be complemented over the coming years with the expected economic development for North, West and Central Africa. The region is set to benefit from a rapid expansion of trade, population growth and a variety of vast infrastructure projects, says the report.
The Moroccan government intends to use CFC to align the country’s business and finance capabilities (including capital markets) with global standards, improving the regulatory, tax and legal framework for doing business in Morocco and establishing a regional business hub at the heart of Casablanca. Morocco’s Ministry of Finance estimates that CFC will contribute around 2% of GDP and generate some 35,000 new jobs.
The statute regulating the establishment of CFC was passed by parliament and published in the official bulletin in December 20101 (Law 44-10). Its special status will be conferred to companies operating in financial and non-financial services at either a regional or an international level. Clifford Chance, a global law firm which has offices in Casablanca, provided support and assistance to the MFBoard in certain issues raised in relation to the conditions and procedures for the implementation of the Law 44-10.
Furthermore, the Finance Act for the budgetary year 2011 implemented a favourable tax regime applicable to companies that export services and benefit from CFC status and the employees of such companies.
The official languages in Morocco are Arabic, Berber and French. The population is around 31 million, with a median age of 27. Casablanca itself has 3.245 million people. Only separated from Europe by the Strait of Gibraltar, Morocco’s market economy benefits from this proximity, which aid key areas of the economy such as agriculture, light manufacturing, tourism, and remittances. Casablanca is not only beautifully-named and hectic, it also enjoys a very mild Mediterranean climate. Sun, sea… just the right image to have in mind if you’ve come to work through the snow.
