Loi n° 103-12 relative aux établissements de crédit et organismes assimilés, régime des établissements de paiement (Law No. 103-12 on Credit Institutions and Similar Bodies, Payment Institutions regime)

Law No. 103-12 on Credit Institutions and Similar Bodies (the Moroccan Banking Law), promulgated by Dahir No. 1-14-193 of 24 December 2014, is the foundational legislation governing Morocco's banking and payments sector. Its principal fintech significance is that it created, for the first time in Moroccan law, the legal category of "payment institutions" (établissements de paiement), non-bank entities authorised to provide payment services and to hold payment accounts without being licensed as full credit institutions. This opened the regulated payments market to fintech operators, telecom-affiliated providers and independent payment service providers. The Law brings payment institutions within the supervisory perimeter of Bank Al-Maghrib (the central bank), which licenses them, sets prudential and governance conditions, and oversees their ongoing operations. Article 34 in particular subjects the exercise of payment-service activity to prior licensing by the Governor of Bank Al-Maghrib, following the opinion of the Credit Institutions Committee. The Law defines the scope of payment services (transfers, direct debits, card payments, cash deposits and withdrawals on payment accounts, and the execution of payment transactions), and establishes the framework under which Bank Al-Maghrib regulates payment systems and means of payment more broadly. Payment institutions must be incorporated in Morocco as a public limited company (SA) or limited liability company (SARL), meet minimum capital requirements fixed by the central bank, and satisfy fit-and-proper, governance, internal-control and anti-money-laundering obligations. The Law empowers Bank Al-Maghrib to issue implementing circulars setting detailed licensing, capital, operational and consumer-protection requirements, the principal vehicles through which Morocco's fintech and mobile-payment frameworks have since been built (notably Circular No. 5/W/15 of 2015 on licensing documentation and the 2018 domestic mobile payment framework). Supervision and enforcement are exercised by Bank Al-Maghrib, which may impose conditions, sanctions and licence withdrawal, with the Credit Institutions Committee and the Banking Commission performing advisory and disciplinary roles. As the umbrella statute for regulated payment activity in Morocco, Law No. 103-12 is the legal basis on which subsequent payment-institution and mobile-payment instruments rest. (Original language: French/Arabic.)

1. 1Creates the non-bank "payment institution" (établissement de paiement) category, opening the regulated payments market to fintech and PSP operators
2. 2Article 34 subjects payment-service activity to prior licensing by the Governor of Bank Al-Maghrib after opinion of the Credit Institutions Committee
3. 3Requires incorporation in Morocco as an SA or SARL with minimum capital fixed by the central bank
4. 4Defines the scope of payment services (transfers, direct debits, card payments, deposits/withdrawals on payment accounts)
5. 5Brings payment institutions under Bank Al-Maghrib prudential, governance, internal-control and AML supervision
6. 6Empowers Bank Al-Maghrib to issue implementing circulars on licensing, capital and operational requirements