Enabling Payments Innovation for Financial Inclusion in Morocco
Project Development Objective (PDO)
This project aims to support Morocco’s goal to increase the usage of non-cash payments instruments. Specifically, the project will support Bank Al Maghrib (BAM), to improve the legal and regulatory framework and the oversight capacity over the National Payment Systems to foster safety, inclusiveness, and innovativeness of payment and remittance services.
Background
The market for retail payment services in Morocco is still underdeveloped, as the limited diffusion and usage of modern instruments indicates. As a result, on average, the number of transactions per person per non-cash instrument is remarkably low. Overall, there seems to be a huge potential that sits waiting to be exploited at the country level when it comes to payment systems development and access and usage of electronic payment instruments. Yet, a number of enabling actions are necessary for this potential to be fully expressed.
Activities / Output
The envisaged outputs of this technical assistance are as follows:
Component 1: Legal and regulatory reforms
1. Review of the new draft payment systems law vis-a-vis international standards and recognized good practices.
2. Develop an Approach Note on the regulatory and policy framework to establish a regulatory Sandbox
3. Provide capacity building to BAM on setting up and implementing a regulatory Sandbox (through workshop and developing set of processes and procedures)
Component 2: Risk-based Oversight of FMIs
1. Development of a risk-based approach for FMIs Oversight
Component 3: Data and Tools
1. Provision of support to BAM in the design of a tailored methodology and questionnaires to measure the cost of retail payment instruments
2. Provision of support to BAM in designing a national survey on the population’s behavior regarding mobile payment means usage.
3. Provision of support to BAM in the design of awareness and financial education for remittance recipients following the approach of the World Bank’s Project Greenback.
Expected Outcomes
The expected outcomes of the project are:
1. Increased non-cash transactions per capita, impact level
2. Revised Payment Systems Law enacted, addressing FSAP recommendations about BAM’s mandate in Oversight especially in retail payments
3. BAM establishes and operationalizes the regulatory Sandbox (depending on BAM decision)
4. Risk Rating Framework/Tool for FMIs adopted
5. BAM issues policy or rules to lower the costs of non-cash transactions, using information obtained from the markets with the help of data collection tools supported by the project
6. BAM implements Project Greenback, including activities to benefit women