Stocks Market
How to Revitalize Casablanca’s Stock Market: Five Actionable Paths Beyond Bare‑Minimum Disclosure
The latest Boursenews symposium gathered five leading experts who shared realistic, hands‑on recommendations to lift Casablanca’s market out of a regulatory‑only mindset and boost its liquidity. Their five proposals range from adopting active transparency and linking numbers to a clear strategic narrative, to standardising reports for foreign investors, strengthening internal checks, and widening the free float of shares. Implementing these steps—starting with a yearly communication calendar, early interim results, sector‑wide KPIs, independent board oversight and a public ranking of best‑practice disclosures—could make Moroccan equities more attractive, more liquid and better aligned with global standards.
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Producing a large volume of financial data is one thing; turning that data into a market‑moving story is another. At the inaugural panel of the Boursenews Financial Information Symposium, five senior practitioners laid out a practical roadmap to lift the Casablanca market out of regulatory complacency and inject fresh liquidity.
1. Adopt Active Transparency
Leila Regragui, Head of Operations & Financial Information at the Moroccan Capital Market Authority (AMMC), urges issuers to move beyond strict compliance and embrace an active communication model.
- Road‑map: Treat the corporate governance code as a "comply or explain" steering tool.
- Immediate action: Publish an annual communication calendar at the start of each fiscal year and invest heavily in digital channels and social media where the new generation of small investors gathers.
2. Tie Numbers to a Strategic Narrative
Younes Zoubir, Deputy CEO of Strategy, Finance & Development at CIH Bank, stresses that raw accounting rigor must be supplemented with a clear forward‑looking story.
- Road‑map: Break the isolation of finance teams by institutionalising bilateral meetings with market analysts and involving senior executives directly.
- Immediate action: Release interim hard‑close results by November to sharpen messaging, and start preparing for the IFRS 18 transition slated for 2027.
3. Standardise for International Comfort
Tarik Amiar, Partner‑Manager at African Financial Investment, points out that foreign capital flows when data is comparable and easy to model.
- Road‑map: Adopt uniformly formatted quarterly financial decks to aid fund‑manager forecasting.
- Immediate action: Insert fixed sector‑specific KPIs in every release to boost visibility and keep Moroccan equities in global indexes such as MSCI Emerging Markets.
4. Strengthen Internal Counter‑Powers
Rachid Belkahia, Partner‑Manager at Governance Maroc and independent director, reminds that board‑level responsibility drives the quality of disclosures.
- Road‑map: Encourage shareholder activism, increase independent directors on audit & risk committees, and reduce information asymmetry.
- Immediate action: Institutionalise a "reference director" role in highly‑concentrated firms and appoint an Independent Third‑Party Organisation (OTI) to certify ESG reporting.
5. Unlock the Psychological Lock on Capital
Omar Amine, Founder of OFinance and market expert, argues that liquidity hinges on widening the supply of fresh securities.
- Road‑map: Motivate major shareholders—who often own 85‑90 % of a company—to increase free float well beyond the statutory 20 % threshold, using protective shareholder agreements.
- Immediate action: Launch an official ranking of Casablanca‑listed companies based on financial communication quality to spark positive emulation.
By implementing these five levers, issuers can transform the Casablanca Stock Exchange from a compliance‑driven platform into a vibrant, liquid market that attracts both local and foreign investors.