Morocco's Attijariwafa Bank looks to boost Islamic finance

Attijariwafa Bank, one of the biggest banks in North Africa, will boost its Islamic subsidiary as soon as the Islamic finance bill passes parliament. Morocco's parliament has started to discuss a bill regulating Islamic banks and sukuk issues after months of delays, after the Islamist-led government adopted it last month. Parliament's approval will be the last step before fully-fledged Islamic banks can be established in Morocco. However, a revolution in the Moroccan banking sector is not expected since the market is very competitive, and Moroccans are too sensitive to product prices. Islamic finance banks are called participative banks under the Moroccan legislation.