Casablanca Finance City Falls 200 Companies Short of Its 2025 Target
Casablanca Finance City was expected to host 500 companies by 2025. A year after that deadline, the Moroccan financial hub has only about 300. Its leaders have now given themselves until 2030 to reach the target.
The goal was to bring 500 companies to Casablanca by 2025, as Morocco sought to make its economic capital a leading financial centre in Africa. But the deadline was missed. With around 300 member companies today, Casablanca Finance City (CFC) still needs to attract 200 to reach its target. In an interview Tuesday with Asharq Bloomberg, CFC Deputy CEO Lamia Merzouki has now set 2030 as the deadline.
The delay is not new. In 2019, Casablanca Finance City passed the 200-company mark. Two years later, its CEO, Saïd Ibrahimi, acknowledged that the health crisis had made the target of 500 members by 2025 unrealistic. The pandemic had slowed international arrivals, adding to difficulties linked to the reform of the financial hub’s tax regime.
In October 2025, Casablanca Finance City claimed 226 companies. A year later, it is approaching 300, according to new figures shared in London. To meet its next target, it will therefore need to welcome around 50 additional companies each year through 2030. CFC had already come close to that pace before the health crisis, but will now need to maintain it for several years in a row.
9,500 jobs and more than $20 billion in African projects
The gap between the financial hub’s initial ambitions and its current numbers has not stopped it from expanding its activities. Member companies now employ around 9,500 people and represent 67 nationalities. Of the 300 companies based there, around 50 are African. The rest include European, American, Asian and Middle Eastern groups.
Lamia Merzouki cited another figure: more than $20 billion in projects in Africa are managed by teams working at CFC. Member companies also generate more than $20 billion in revenue, 56% of it internationally. A significant share of that revenue comes from their activities across the African continent.
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To attract new investors, Casablanca is targeting multinational regional headquarters, which account for around 40% of its members. US company Cisco and China’s China UnionPay are among the companies recently welcomed. The model is based on tax incentives, administrative support and the ability to manage activities across several African countries from Morocco.
CFC now claims 38th place worldwide and first place in Africa among international financial centres. Its management says companies based in Casablanca operate in 50 countries across the continent. In London, Lamia Merzouki also referred to a large number of companies applying to join, without specifying how many might actually join the financial hub in the coming months.
