Attijariwafa Bank Proposes Share Dividend to Boost Capital and Solvency

This operation, which must be completed on January 5, 2021, aims to strengthen and maintain the current regulatory own funds and thus improve Attijariwafa bank’s solvency ratios. It will also help finance the organic development of the bank in Morocco and internationally and anticipate the various regulatory developments in the countries where it is present, the document approved by the Moroccan Capital Market Authority (AMMC) said. Even if the shareholders have not yet confirmed their commitment, they still intend to participate in this increase, the first part of which is for an amount of 6.75 dirhams per share and which will be detached on December 31 for payment starting January 13, the Casablanca Stock Exchange stressed.

The operation comes after the publication of quarterly results showing a deterioration in the main management accounts of the banking group. Over the first nine months of 2020, the consolidated net result and the net result attributable to the group recorded 2.5 billion dirhams and 2 billion dirhams respectively, i.e. -52.5% and -55.2%. The cost of risk stood at 4.6 billion dirhams, an increase of 239% compared to 2019.

It should be recalled that during the year 2020, Attijariwafa bank continued its mobilization and commitment to its clients in the various countries where it is present in order to mitigate the effects of the crisis. Thus, in Morocco, this mobilization has made it possible to finance, as of September 30, 5,595 young entrepreneurs and project leaders for an amount of 1 billion dirhams as part of the Intelaka initiative. It also granted 6.2 billion dirhams in "Damane Oxygène" loans to 18,200 SMEs and 10 billion dirhams in "Damane Relance" loans to 8,300 SMEs.