Morocco’s Bank Card Usage Surges 4.1% in 2021, Reaching 17.9 Million

The payment card sector experienced a remarkable recovery in 2021, said Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), which unveiled its annual report on banking supervision on Monday in Casablanca. This growth is attributable to the good results of the agricultural campaign, favoring a rebound in the Moroccan economy, the note points out.

At the same time, the volume of bank accounts opened increased by 4.6% to 31.2 million accounts. The number of resident individuals with at least one bank account increased by 0.6% compared to 4.5% in 2020 to reach 14.2 million, the same source indicates, adding that the bank account holding rate in 2021 remained at 53%.

More specifically, 1,090,574 electronic accounts (m-Wallets) have been opened, backed by bank accounts. Nearly 99% are held by individuals. The accounts held by merchants stand at 14,612. By gender, the number of men holding at least one bank account stood at 8.8 million, while the number of women holding at least one bank account is 5.4 million.