Morocco, UAE Central Banks Ink Two MoUs on Banking Supervision & Islamic Finance

Abu Dhabi – Morocco’s central bank Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) have signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to bolster cooperation in areas of banking supervision and Islamic finance, as well as interconnecting payment and financial messaging systems.

Inked by Governor of Bank Al-Maghrib Abdellatif Jouahri and Governor of the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates Khaled Mohamed Balama at the CBUAE headquarters in Abu Dhabi, the two memorandums seek to strengthen bilateral cooperation and improve efficient cross-border financial transactions between the two countries.

Under the first memorandum, the two parties will work to reinforce cooperation in regulatory and prudential matters and to exchange supervisory information regarding banks and financial institutions, as well as to coordinate prudential practices and regulations, exchange expertise, and build institutional capacity.

The goal is also to strengthen coordination between Sharia governance bodies in the field of Islamic finance and to develop Sharia-compliant cross-border financing, particularly trade finance and infrastructure investments.

The second memorandum aims to explore the possibility of interconnecting the two countries’ instant payment platforms, national card switching systems, and financial messaging systems, in order to facilitate processing and settling cross-border transactions and enabling the mutual acceptance of national payment cards, in accordance with the regulatory and prudential requirements of both countries.

It also provides for the exchange of expertise in developing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) intended for individuals and institutions and exploring possibilities for their use in cross-border payments between the two countries, as well as cooperation in the field of financial technologies and the regulatory and prudential frameworks applicable to virtual assets, including crypto-assets and stablecoins, and the associated consumer protection mechanisms.