The Competition Council in Morocco has ended the monopoly of the Central Payments Center (CMI) and the nine banks participating in it, following a complaint filed by the company “NAPS” in May 2023, which accused the center of practices that limit competition in the electronic payments market.
Initial investigations revealed significant concerns regarding the center’s dominance over more than 97% of the market, which hindered the entry of new competitors and obstructed the development of the sector.
In response to these concerns, the Central Payments Center and the participating banks made commitments in September 2024. These included transferring all online payment contracts to other payment institutions, ensuring uninterrupted service during the transition period, and refraining from attracting new clients.
The partner banks also pledged to purchase merchants’ contracts related to card systems concluded after the Council’s decision, ensuring the economic and legal independence of payment institutions while prohibiting direct marketing of electronic payment service offers by payment institutions.
These measures aim to dismantle the near-total monopoly that once dominated the electronic payments market, allowing the Central Payments Center to remain a neutral technical platform that provides services fairly to all payment institutions. This decision is expected to enhance competition, improve service quality, and reduce costs for consumers, significantly supporting digital transformation and the national economy.
