Six months from the end of his mandate and while a new regulation has just been adopted, the boss of the BVC
delivers a lucid analysis of the successes and obstacles of the Moroccan place.
Managing Director of the Casablanca Stock Exchange (BVC) since 2009, Karim Hajji will complete his mandate in
March 2020. Arriving at the helm of the financial center in the midst of the capital market crisis, he had
previously founded and led the investment bank Atlas Capital for ten years, after having worked
for the royal holding and had a first career in the pharmaceutical industry in Europe and the
United States. If he had wanted to convince more public companies to go public, the
financial underlines the performance of Casablanca, the third African place in number of introductions (6 for
75 listed, and a capitalization of 600 billion dirhams – 55 billion euros) behind Cairo and
Johannesburg over the past five years. However, no company has been added to this list.
in 2019 when his boss expected at least two, and the capitalization of the place stagnates on the
last twelve months. To move forward, it has just provided it with new regulations that offer it more
independence and therefore flexibility in its operation. Chairman since November 2018 of
the African Securities Exchanges Association, which federates twenty-seven African Stock Exchanges, Karim Hajji analyzes with
lucidity, but not without ambition, the performance of the financial centre.
The Casablanca Stock Exchange has just opted for a new general regulation. Why is this important?
Karim Hajji: Before the adoption of this new regulation, the main provisions relating to the conditions
to access and stay on the Casablanca Stock Exchange were enshrined in law. It obviously lacked
flexibility. Today, the Bourse, which manages the new general regulations, also manages the products that
can be listed without going through the legislative circuit. We have also simplified the structure of the market and
now hold two markets, instead of three compartments. A main market reserved for
large companies and another devoted to SMEs, which is a much-awaited novelty. In this last,
businesses will benefit from relaxed rules, especially regarding financial reporting. We
we also have, and this is new, the possibility of requiring a minimum share of capital to be listed on the stock market for
companies that want to be listed. This provision will improve liquidity (ability to exchange
shares) of companies that will be listed in the future.
The adoption of this regulation also includes provisions for unlisted companies.
In effect. Casablanca can now offer a platform for investors to trade
securities of unlisted companies. This includes equity investments made by investment funds.
capital investment. It will also be possible to set up a platform to exchange the securities of the
public debt. A new era is dawning.
For several years, the BVC has been performing timidly. Is 2019 likely to follow the same
tendency ?
This year should end well thanks to the placing on the market of 8% of Maroc Telecom, previously
owned by the state. But you have to be careful. It is obvious that we can always do better, even if the
situation is not necessarily favorable.
How can the BVC do better and fully play its role in the Moroccan economy?

We would like her to contribute more. There are several reasons for this, starting with the rates of
bank loans. They are extremely attractive, and an entrepreneur turns first to his
bank for financing. The Stock Exchange only comes as a complement.
What is missing at the BVC to change the situation?
The Stock Exchange is there to support the development of companies, but it is still necessary that the latter
are ambitious, present development programs, particularly internationally. Our
companies can no longer be satisfied with the local market and remain cautious when it comes to going beyond
borders. Moroccan industrialists must be part of a logic of growth and expansion
geography, and the Stock Exchange is there to support them. The Elite program that we have put in place, it
a few years ago, aims to identify companies with this desire and to help them express
their real ambition for growth by allowing them to resort to the capital market.
On the business side, we are assured that the capital market is not attractive...
You don't have to tell stories. There are companies that go their way, because they do not want
publish their results. Transparency is sometimes a problem. It's a reality, and we do a job
teaching in this direction. We meet up to 200 companies each year to encourage them to enter
in stock exchange. It's not easy, because there is also a fear among owners of losing control of their
capital once listed.
Isn't the presence of banks around the Stock Exchange a brake on its development?
The idea of opening up the round table to banks, insurance companies, CDG (Caisse de dépôt et de gestion du
Morocco), to stock market intermediaries and to Casablanca Finance City Authority was to involve
the entire Moroccan financial ecosystem. The Ministry of Finance at the time wanted to involve
the whole sphere of the capital market to succeed the roadmap. Personally, I find the
very valid reasoning.
But do the banks have an interest in companies preferring to go to the capital market rather than
than contracting loans?
Banks are not only involved in the granting of loans, they are also present in the activities of
market, whether on their own behalf or on that of their clients. Furthermore, we can demonstrate
that companies entering the stock market through a capital increase subsequently use
more on loans. The Stock Exchange will never replace bank financing, but it complements it.
Several studies show that a liquid and developed capital market makes it possible to gain 2 points of
growth. Morocco has everything to gain by helping the Stock Exchange achieve its goals.
The Casablanca Stock Exchange, like other African markets, suffers from a lack of liquidity. There are
titles which are exchanged very rarely. Can we fix it?
The lack of liquidity penalizes our position. This reflects the dominance in our market of
Moroccan institutional investors, who are intended to hold securities over the long term and lack
quality stocks. We have discussions with the leaders of the companies whose titles are very
not very liquid. We try to convince them to do stock splits (divide the par value of the share by 5
or by 10) or to make capital increases open to new shareholders, but we do not
cannot force them to opt for these solutions. They still need to have development projects
and that their shareholders agree to be diluted. On the other hand, we are taking stock of the
companies which are not at all liquid and to invite them to take measures, failing which the deregistration
of the rating could be considered.
Where is the project to connect African stock exchanges, eagerly awaited by market players?
The project consists of connecting seven African Stock Exchanges together: South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt,
BRVM of Abidjan, Mauritius, Kenya and Morocco. The African Exchanges Linkage Project will enable companies
intermediation of these countries to have access to stock market prices and to all the information available on
the seven platforms. They will also have the ability to transact. We want to create more
of fluidity in the relations between these actors. We have set up a Project Management Office and
three working groups that manage the project: regulatory, commercial and technical. The project is progressing well, and
we will be ready by early next year.
The Stock Exchange also wanted to attract African companies. Why didn't they answer your call?
We have a Tunisian, Ennakl, but we don't intend to stop there. However, there must be
an agreement between the Moroccan regulator and those of other countries. Moroccan market authority
capitals has already signed agreements with a number of its counterparts on the continent, in particular
with Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Kenya. But these agreements must be reinforced to allow the
listing of securities from sub-Saharan countries in Morocco.