Highlights

Seminar on the derivatives market in Morocco

17/12/2013
Seminar on the derivatives market in Morocco

The Ministry of Economy and Finance held Tuesday, December 17th 2013, in partnership with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), at the (BAM) training center in Rabat, a seminar on the theme: "The derivatives market: coaching, challenges and prospects for Morocco in the light of international developments."

This seminar, the first of its kind, was inspired, inter alia, by:

• The program to set up a financial instrument market in Morocco whose bill is under discussion at the parliament;

• The development of the OTC derivatives market.

The seminar was attended by key stakeholders in the domestic financial market including supervisors (BAM, CDVM and DAPS), banks, professional associations in the financial sector, institutional investors, major contributors that use such tools (Moroccan Highway, ADDOHA ...), stockbrokers, asset management companies and accounting firms and lawyers.

The seminar was divided into three separate panels preceded by an opening ceremony chaired by the Deputy Director of the Treasury in charge of the Financial Sector pole and the representative of the EBRD.

The first panel addressed the question of the status and prospects of development of the OTC derivatives market in Morocco. Panelists, professionals from the banking industry, put forward the practical implications of transactions on derivatives and the specific conditions to start transactions on this market in Morocco.

This panel was moderated by:

• Aude Pacatte (Director General, Balance Sheet Management-EBRD);
• Faisal Dahab (Citigroup Global Markets Ltd);
• Radia Benboubker (Citigroup Global Markets Ltd);
• Abdelmalek Benabdeljalil (Director Capital Market, BMCE;
• Laurent Tournaud (Head of ALM Treasury and Capital Markets, BMCI).

In the second panel, Mr. Tajinder Singh (Deputy Secretary General, the International Organization of Securities Commissions, IOSCO), focused on the issue of financial stability and the new international regulations on derivatives

, Mr. Jonathan Lewis (Partner, Clifford Chance Paris) and Mr. Kubas Jaceb (Senior Partner, local capital markets-EBRD, London) presented, in the last panel, the legislative and regulatory framework for organized markets and OTC derivatives internationally in which the UNIDROIT Principles apply. Aspects concerning the compensation clause resolution on this market (Close-out netting) were also discussed.

Based on international experiences, the panelists expressed their recommendations for a better convergence of the Moroccan legislative framework towards best international standards.