Approximately 41 percent of Moroccan adults use a formal financial product or service. This
places Morocco well above the average level of financial inclusion in the Middle East and North
Africa, as well as above the average level in lower middle income countries (18 percent and 28
percent, respectively). However, within Morocco there are sharp variations in the use of formal
financial services across different population segments. Men are twenty percentage points more
likely than women to report using a formal financial product, and while 61 percent of adults in the top
quartile of the income distribution are financially included, just 25 percent of those in the bottom
quartile percent fall into the same category. Moroccans living in urban areas are also significantly
more likely to be financially included: 53 percent of these adults report using a formal financial
product, compared to 19 percent of their rural counterparts.
Bank accounts are the most commonly used financial product, with 28 percent of adults
reporting having a deposit or checking account. However, among women this value falls to 21
percent and among rural residents and those in lowest quartile of the income distribution just 10
percent have a bank account.
Just over one in ten Moroccan adults reports having formal credit from a bank, credit card
company or consumer credit and a similar proportion report using money transfer services.
Fewer than three percent of Moroccans report having a mortgage or using an investment or pension
product. As with overall patterns of financial inclusion, men, richer adults, and those living in urban
areas report higher usage of these products.
Microfinance institutions (MFIs) currently reach about five percent of the adult population, a
finding consistent with supply-side data. Despite this relatively low penetration rate, there is high
awareness of microfinance institutions: 68 percent of Moroccans report being familiar with services
offered by MFIs. Unlike credit from banks, lower-income adults are more likely than their higherincome
counterparts to report having credit from an MFI. Clients of MFIs are also unlikely to use
banks. Just one percent of adults with an outstanding loan from a MFI report also having credit from
a bank, and only eight percent of these adults have a savings or deposit account with a bank.
Insurance is used by around 24 percent of the adult population in Morocco which is mainly
due to mandatory insurance classes. The vast majority of insurance holders (over 90 percent)
report using a form of mandatory insurance including motor third party liability. Just two percent of
the adult population reports using self-initiative take up types of insurance, such as private health or
life insurance.
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18 percent of Moroccan adults report that they use a Shari’ah compliant3
financial product
with murabaha being the most commonly cited product. The popularity of the Murabaha product
in Morocco is consistent with research that estimates that 70 to 80 percent of commercial Islamic
lending products are Murabaha -based. Those not using Shari’ah compliant financial products
generally cite lack of need, access, and knowledge as the main reasons. Doubts about authenticity
do not appear to be a main obstacle to use of Shari’ah compliant financial products, with only 10
percent of non-users citing this reason.
The approximately 13 million financially excluded adults – those who use no formal financial
products or services - in Morocco are disproportionately female, poor, and living in rural
areas. Among these adults, the most commonly reported obstacle to formal account ownership is
lack of enough money to use one (37 percent), followed by a lack of need for a formal account (27
percent), and the high costs associated with owning and using a formal account (24 percent). Many
adults – particularly those not participating in the formal financial system – using informal methods to
save and borrow: 33 percent of adults report using only informal methods to save, and 10 percent of
adults rely exclusively on informal lenders (such as moneylenders, family, or friends) to borrow.
However, 49 percent of adults do not save at all and 72 percent of adults do not borrow.