BMCE Bank
Morocco’s third largest bank continued to implement its network expansion programme and structural changes, which have maintained healthy growth in profits and key areas.
In 2005, net profits rose by 10.7% and loans to customers grew by 16.2%, including 58% growth in mortgage lending. The bank’s 35.4% expansion in consumer lending has pushed up its market share to 22%. In 2005, it maintained a 13% RoE.
BMCE has strengthened its leading role in capital market activities through its investment bank, BMCE Capital, launching Morocco’s first real estate fund. It reconfigured its foreign network, launching a merchant bank, Axis Capital, in Tunisia and setting up in Mauritania. And, to boost its position in the SME market, it opened 14 business centres in an agreement with the European Investment Bank for a €30 financing line with no state guarantees.
CEO Othman Benjelloun says: “BMCE Bank’s remarkable performance in 2005 confirmed that it lived up to the celebration of its 10th anniversary of privatisation.
“In an environment characterised by tough competition and tighter regulatory climate, the bank continued to demonstrate strong growth capabilities while carrying out intensive development projects in Morocco, notably the opening of 50 new branches per year and the development of its core business activity. It also paved the way, in 2005, for its international expansion, strengthening its presence in Europe and Africa.
“Through these achievements, it demonstrates its sustained commitment to Morocco’s further economic development.”
