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Digital Currency: BAM Announces First Peer-to-Peer Payment
Another experimental use case in cross-border transfers is being conducted by Bank Al Maghrib in collaboration with the Central Bank of Egypt, supported by the World Bank. In parallel, the draft law concerning cryptoassets has been finalized.
The Central Bank conducted a first experiment focusing on retail peer-to-peer (P2P) payment use cases, announced Abdellatif Jouahri, Governor of Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), on Monday in Rabat.
“We are conducting another experiment, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Egypt and with support from the World Bank, on cross-border transfer use cases,” stated Mr. Jouahri during his address at the opening of the 2025 Continental Seminar of the Association of African Central Banks (AACB), held under the theme “Cyber Risks and Innovative Financial Technologies: Challenges and Strategic Measures.”
Asserting that the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), as a sovereign currency, could serve as a digital payment option in both wholesale and retail forms, the BAM Governor noted that the project will be supplemented by studies and analyses on legal and regulatory aspects.
“Like other countries on the continent, Bank Al-Maghrib has conducted studies on issuing a Central Bank Digital Currency with support from the World Bank and IMF. These studies focused primarily on defining the CBDC’s strategic objectives and its potential macroeconomic and payment system impacts,” he explained.
Regarding cryptoassets, Mr. Jouahri highlighted the finalization of a draft law aimed at establishing a legal framework for their use. This framework seeks to appropriately protect consumers and investors, strengthen market integrity against fraud, manipulation, money laundering, and terrorism financing, and preserve financial stability.
He argued that authorities, including central banks, must regulate cryptoassets and stablecoins, which—according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS)—lack the attributes of public currency.
“These instruments carry risks such as money laundering and excessive disintermediation, which could undermine the integrity and resilience of the financial system,” he elaborated.
On the digitization of financial services, Mr. Jouahri emphasized that Morocco’s progress has been driven by traditional banks adapting to ongoing transformations, payment institutions adopting agile business models, and a rapidly developing FinTech ecosystem.
He added: “To strengthen this ecosystem, we recently established, through a public-private partnership, the Morocco FinTech Center—a platform dedicated to supporting innovative project leaders and fostering a dynamic, inclusive digital ecosystem.”
“We aim for constant dialogue with fintechs to provide them with a flexible regulatory framework tailored to their services’ unique needs and to encourage collaboration between established players and new entrants,” Mr. Jouahri stressed.
In parallel, BAM has implemented technical and legal prerequisites—developed with its partners—that are critical to advancing financial service digitization. These include electronic signatures, biometric authentication via digital identity, and regulated cloud usage frameworks, he noted.
Mr. Jouahri also revealed that additional initiatives are under review, such as establishing an Open Banking framework and enhancing data protection regulations to address new challenges arising from technological innovations in the banking sector.
