Although Morocco has a payment system over the phone since 2018, its demand is still weak, which hinders the goals of enhancing financial inclusion, contributing to the development of the digital economy, and reducing monetary dealings.
According to official data, this system can capture between 40 billion dirhams and 80 billion dirhams of cash transactions, especially financial aid provided by the state within the framework of support programs.
According to the statements of Abd al-Latif al-Jawahiri, the governor of Bank al-Maghrib, the demand for this service is not at the required level, saying that “its success depends on trust, because many of those involved in it, including those working in the informal sector, believe that they will be subject to tax reviews.” .
The same official stated, during the press conference that followed the meeting of the Bank Al-Maghrib Council yesterday, Tuesday, that “the problem of weak turnout lies in hesitation and lack of confidence, despite the incentive measures that were approved in terms of taxation.”
Al-Jawahiri indicated that “the experience that was carried out with the Ministry of National Education to apply performance over the phone within the framework of the ‘Tayseer’ program, for financial transfers related to reducing the phenomenon of school dropouts in Fez, Meknes, Azilal and Benguerir, was initially encouraging, and it was accepted. The Ministry encourages it for the authorities.
The governor of Bank Al-Maghrib confirmed that “everything is technically available, but when the recipient families wanted to ‘facilitate’ its use with proximity merchants, the response from them was weak, as those involved in this process do not exceed hundreds.”
In view of the low turnout, Bank Al-Maghrib initiated an awareness-raising process among merchants to persuade them to engage in performance over the phone through bicycle and Amazigh capsules; Meanwhile, bets are being made on the next year to generalize the experience of the “Tayseer” program in all directions, to give a great impetus to the system.
The mobile banking service enables the execution of many operations electronically, immaterially and in real time, the most important of which are receiving and transferring funds from one person to another, payment operations for the benefit of merchants, withdrawal or deposit of funds, purchase of phone recharges, payment of invoices and payment for the benefit of suppliers.
Through this service, the authorities seek to greatly reduce the criticism that still dominates the dealings of Moroccans. Most of these transactions are based on payment between individuals and merchants, while they can be executed through mobile payment solutions.
This service also aims to develop the digital economy and credit institutions to capture a larger part of liquidity, reduce operational costs for money management, cancel physical dealings, digitize performance and reduce administrative costs.
This system was created by the banks, the three telecommunications companies and the performance institutions that are licensed by the Central Bank of Morocco. It took nearly two years to prepare for this service in order to set a set of necessary rules to ensure its proper functioning.
Morocco initiated the launch of this new system to enable groups that are not involved in the banking system, or those that are insufficiently involved, to benefit from financial services, thus enhancing financial inclusion.
