#Senegal : Together, the Moroccan banking groups Attijariwafa bank, Bank of Africa (BOA) and Banque Populaire are far ahead of their French competitors in West Africa. One in five CFA francs circulating in the WAEMU banking system passes through the subsidiaries of these three leaders.
The report distinguishes in particular the countries of origin of the banking groups operating in this zone, between those belonging to France and those of the Maghreb in general, at the head of which sits the Moroccan trio. “The activity of these groups (Maghreb, editor’s note) is dominated by Moroccan entities, with 25 credit establishments affiliated with 3 groups which are among the top 6 in the ranking”, emphasizes the WAEMU Banking Commission.
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And to add: “These establishments concentrate 21.7% of market share, 23.1% of deposits, 23.0% of loans granted to customers and 26.6% of provisional overall net income.” They also represent “20.2% of establishments, 22.7% of ATMs, 28.1% of bank accounts and 24.0% of the workforce”, adds the same source.
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The Moroccan banking trio is therefore very active with a great contribution to the expansion of the network, the installation of ATMs and also the creation of jobs. It is thanks to Moroccan banks that the Maghreb posts very enviable figures in the WAEMU.
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Also according to the report, “with a share of assets of 26.1%, the 7 Maghreb banking groups present in the Union have 42 entities, concentrate 24.6% of the branch network, 28.0% of ATMs and employ 29.8% of the workforce. They hold 30.8% of customer accounts, 26.8% of deposits and carry 27.6% of loans granted. At the end of December 2021, these institutions contributed 29.3% to the formation of the provisional overall net income achieved by the banking sector.
The report notes that French banks are now relegated to the background, no doubt due to their gradual withdrawal from the African market. Thus, of the 80 subsidiaries belonging to the first 13 groups in the eight WAEMU countries, only two are French, belonging to BNP Paribas. Société Générale no longer appears in this ranking of the largest groups.
In more detail, BOA tops the three Moroccan groups with 8% market share. Next comes BP with 7.3%. Finally, AWB won 6.4% market share. Nevertheless, in terms of net income, the subsidiaries of AWB (10.5% of the whole region) and those of BOA (10.6%) come almost equal, while Banque Atlantique, a sign of the BP group (5.5% of regional net profit), still has a big effort to make.