Country Manual Private Banking – Morocco – BRP Update 2024
BRP has updated its Country Manual Private Banking for Morocco out of bank’s country of establishment (DEF, RS, BT and RT)
| Source of changes | Answers |
|---|---|
| Law / Regulation | Yes |
| New Position of the Authorities | No |
| Evolution of Expert’s Interpretation | No |
Regulatory Template, Regulatory Summary and Behaviour Template
Material changes
The Country Manual has been reviewed to ensure that the content of all documents remains accurate and up to date.
The sections regarding Foreign Exchange Controls have been amended to reflect the changes brought by the General Instruction of Exchange Operations 2022 (the “GIEO 2022”). We can confirm that there have been no other relevant modifications to the Moroccan cross-border legislation since the last update.
The main changes are:
- The maximum amount a company (other than a regulated financial establishment) registered in Morocco is authorised to invest abroad has been raised from MAD 100 million per year within Africa, or MAD 50 million per year outside Africa, to a maximum of MAD 200 million per year (Art. 170 GIEO). The limit is now the same whether the investment is made in a foreign country within or outside Africa.
- The limit has also been raised with regard to two types of transactions authorised for individuals under the GIEO: the Specific Departure Regime for foreign nationals definitively leaving Morocco, and the Specific Inheritance Regime for foreign nationals both saw their transfer limit go from a maximum of MAD 30.000 per each year of residence in Morocco to a maximum of MAD 50.000.
.
Non-material changes
The documents have been reformatted onto the latest template. Some content has been reworded, without introducing material changes, to provide more clarity.
Furthermore, some amendments to the BT have also been made, without there having been any material changes:
- The condition “on an occasional basis” has been removed from activities undertaken via remote means of communication, as this condition is only relevant when there is a risk of creating a de facto permanent establishment in the country.
- To reflect the fact that the Moroccan regulator is more restrictive concerning investment services the BT now shows that it is recommended to avoid actively collecting relevant supporting documents and information in connection to these services.
Impliction for business relations with third parties
The documents having been reformatted onto the latest template, this section now provides more answers, notably to better distinguish between the provision of documentation to the EAM for its own use and provision of documentation for its subsequent distribution to end-clients.
To better reflect the Moroccan authorities’ approach towards investment services it is reminded that third parties are not allowed to promote investment services on behalf of the Bank while simply referring prospects to the latter. Following the same logic, business introducers and EAMs collecting relevant supporting documentation on behalf of the Bank should collect information related to investment services based on a prospect’s initiative only.
Regulatory Summary
This document has now a more user-friendly layout and reflects the changes contained in the RT.
BT Short Comparison
BRP has created a comparison document allowing users to quickly identify the modifications made compared to the previous version of the PB Manual (BT Short Comparison). The BT Short Comparison can be found on BRP’s platform (mybrponline) in the Search tab by entering in the Document Field “CM PB BT SHORT COMP” and “MOROCCO” in the Target Country Field.
The BT Short Comparison should be read as follows:
The first column contains a short description of the activity in question. The second column contains the answers of the previous version of the Country Manual (online until the day of the alert). The third column contains the new answers of the most recent version of the Country Manual. Only the modified answers are displayed (in color). If the answers in the new version are unchanged compared to the previous version, they are shaded in grey.
For more information, please contact us: info@brpsa.com
Geneva, February 29th 2024