Morocco

Morocco's banks have been at the forefront of the country's modernization drive, and among the quickest to take advantage of the new possibilities offered by the liberalization of the economy. Besides the large local banking groups, however, Arab Bank - the largest privately owned and most geographically widespread Arab institution in the world - has gone from strength to strength in Morocco with its own brand of international banking.

Its fortunes have been closely associated with the history of Morocco ever since the establishment of its presence here in 1936, just six years after its founding in Jerusalem. Indeed, after very successful early years of operating, it was partnered with a state-owned local bank under the "Moroccanization" laws of the 1970s.

After the revocation of the laws in the 1990s, the bank's head office in Jordan assumed total control of the company, "This structure allows us to benefit from the considerable financial clout of the group and to explore opportunities that would have been out of reach for a local subsidiary," explains the bank's Moroccan director, Malik Annabi.
Malik Annabi, regional director of Arab Bank in Morocco, stands beside a portrait of Abdul Hameed Shoman, who founded the bank in Jerusalem in 1930

For the past 10 years, Arab Bank has built significantly on its strengths to develop one of Morocco's strongest institutions. Its extensive worldwide network (over 350 branches) makes it the ideal partner for internationally minded companies and private individuals. Its clients now range from local subsidiaries of international firms (both Arab and non-Arab) to foreign embassies, as well as many Moroccan companies large and small.

Annabi is overseeing the next step in Arab Bank's development in Morocco. Half-British and half-Tunisian, Annabi has had considerable experience in the banking sector through a career that has taken him from London to Hong Kong to Casablanca. He is as comfortable mixing with the international community that he meets at the British Chamber of Commerce for Morocco as he is with local businessmen.

TOP