IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and Bank Al-Maghrib, the Central Bank of Morocco, will organize an international symposium to train African and MENA central banks and financial regulators on financial infrastructure and risk management that will help smaller businesses gain access to finance and boost economic growth.
The four-day event will bring together some 40 international experts and 150 attendees from 35 central banks and 50 countries.
“This event will present the sizable benefits of credit bureaus and collateral registries,” said Joumana Cobein, IFC country manager for the Maghreb region. “Thanks to information sharing between financial institutions, regulators, and other financial parties, these tools contribute to expanding access to finance for households and MSMEs in emerging economies by simplifying the decision-making process and reducing credit costs and payment defaults.”
The event will also address the regulator’s role in managing credit bureau and collateral registries, and impact of new technologies on data management.
Bank Al-Maghrib has successfully implemented and managed a credit bureau since 2008. IFC’s partnering with it for the event aims to leverage that experience.
Over the last six years, Bank Al-Maghrib has successfully raised the bureau’s profile among financial institutions and their clients – an impressive achievement that places Morocco among the top in the MENA region.
“Bank Al-Magrib has always worked with IFC to acquire industry expertise and for financial support,” said Khalid Zbir, Head of Branch Network and Public Credit Registry Department of Bank Al-Maghrib. “IFC provides similar advisory services to other central banks in emerging countries, especially in Africa. This event shows IFC’s commitment to develop financial infrastructures across the whole continent.”
This project is made possible with the support of the Arab Monetary Fund; the MSME Technical Assistance Facility in MENA, a joint initiative between IFC and the World Bank; the Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, and UKaid.