Capital Markets Regulation in Morocco
Project Development Objective (PDO)
The objective of this project is (a) to contribute to the strengthening, broadening, and deepening of Morocco’s capital markets by helping the authorities put in place an enabling legal and regulatory framework for new products and activities (securitizations, securities lending, real estate investment trusts (REITS), and small and medium enterprise (SME) board) and (b) to increase the capacity of the insurance and pension regulators to promote strong supervision and oversight of capital markets participants.
Background
Morocco’s financial system needs to improve the allocation of capital to productive uses and the monitoring of the way enterprises employ capital. The Ministry of Economy and Finance aims to diversify the channels of intermediation and promote competition among channels.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance is seeking technical assistance to develop capital markets and improve the effectiveness and diversity of finance as business needs grow in complexity. The ministry is also in the early stages of drafting a law to introduce real REITS and requires assistance to review and finalize the draft and propose related changes to the current stock exchange law.
This catalytic project is linked to a larger Morocco technical assistance program (No. P03, Development of Local Capital Markets and SME Finance). This project began with fundamental legal and regulatory reforms for capital markets as a means to pave the way for product development, capacity building, and so on that takes place through the program.
Activities
The project will support the following activities:
1. Assisting in drafting regulations to support the implementation of the law on securities
lending
2. Drafting regulations to support the implementation of the law on securitization
3. Updating the rulebook drafted by the newly independent capital markets authority, Autorité
Marocaine du Marché des Capitaux (Moroccan Authority for Capital Markets)
4. Drafting the regulatory rulebook for the new insurance and pension regulator, Autorité de
Contrôle des Assurances et de la Prévoyance Sociale (Insurance Supervisory Authority
and Social Welfare).
Expected Outcomes
The main expected outcomes of the project are as follows:
Short- to medium-term outcomes
1. Enabling a regulatory environment for the introduction of securities lending and securitization
2. Improving the capacity of Autorité Marocaine du Marché des Capitaux and Autorité de
Contrôle des Assurances et de la Prévoyance Sociale to manage the risks associated with new
financial products and services
3. Enabling greater and more transparent oversight of all market participants
Long-term outcomes
1. Providing deeper, broader and more liquid capital markets with an increased range of
products.
2. Developing well-articulated capital market policies with broader economic reforms aimed at
private sector development
3. Providing higher standards of regulation and oversight