Morocco Introduces New Fines to Address Soaring Unpaid Check Incidents

By initiating this new provision, the State is exploring, on the one hand, an additional source of revenue, and on the other hand, seeking to clean up the stock of unpaid checks. The latter, according to Vieeco, has reached very worrying levels, and risks soon threatening the credibility of the check as a means of payment.

In mid-October, 670,000 people, 88% of whom were affected by check bans, according to figures from the central bank. Out of more than 3.2 million check incidents not yet regularized, the State was losing more than 95 billion dirhams, or nearly 10% of bank customer deposits. With this measure, the State could collect 1.5 billion dirhams, provided that all those concerned by this liberatory contribution pay their obligations within the required deadlines.

In plain terms, the liberatory contribution introduced is a solution to relieve check bans. They will be able to comply with the law by paying amounts 70% to 92% lower than the penalties they owed before the adoption of the amendment.

The amendment also stipulates that the ceiling of the contribution is set at a maximum of 10,000 dirhams for individuals and 50,000 dirhams for legal entities, regardless of the number of unpaid incidents. In total, people wishing to definitively regularize their situation with Bank Al-Maghrib and lift the ban must pay a maximum of 10,000 dirhams to the TGR, regardless of the number of their bounced checks.