Market
Finance company NPLs in Morocco
A supervision population separate from the banks.
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- Serenor Capital
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The public monitor follows banks. Finance companies — consumer credit, leasing, factoring, according to their licence — are another population in Bank Al-Maghrib's reports. Applying the banks' 8.3% to one of their portfolios is a perimeter error.
A separate population
Banking supervision in Morocco covers credit institutions, not a single block called 'the sector'. The tables distinguish banks from finance companies. A comment that discusses 'Moroccan NPLs' while quoting only banks has to say so.
The split is not a layout detail. The business models do not match. A consumer-credit company carries small balances, often lightly secured. A leasing company carries assets it owns. A universal bank mixes mortgages, firms and large corporates.
What to ask before quoting a ratio
The exact licence, the dominant product, and the basis (solo or consolidated) of the figure in the information memorandum. A 'group' ratio that adds a bank and a finance subsidiary tells a different story from the subsidiary alone.
If that year's supervision report does not publish the split one needs, it is not rebuilt. The absence of a finance-company ratio from this note is deliberate: the page explains the perimeter, it does not open a second series.
Underwriting
On a finance-company tape, the fields that matter are the product, the age of default, the status of the asset (especially in leasing), debtor contact and the handling cost per file. Unit cost can absorb the value of small lines. That is the same problem as on a retail book, with a seller that is not a deposit bank.
Segmentation follows the company's products, not an analogy with a bank's mortgage book. See secured versus unsecured NPLs.
Link to a sale
The transfer route — a sale of claims, an FPCT, or later the Draft Law 02-26 regime if it is enacted — depends on the seller's status and the nature of the assets. The draft is not in force. The existing structured route remains FPCT.
Nothing in the banks' ratio says whether a finance company is a seller. Supply is observed file by file, not deduced from 8.3%.
In this series
- Morocco NPL market
- Corporate NPL underwriting
- Solo and consolidated NPL figures in Morocco
- Leasing NPLs in Morocco
This note is a method of reading a file or a published series. It is not legal, tax or investment advice, and it is not an opinion on a particular exposure. Serenor Capital does not buy claims for its own account, manage a fund, or carry on collection.
Sources and references
- Bank Al-Maghrib, Annual Report on Banking Supervision, financial year 2025 — PDF
- Bank Al-Maghrib, Circular No. 19/G/2002 of 23 December 2002 on the classification of claims and their provisioning, as amended — PDF
- Circular No. 1/W/2025, adopted on 5 December 2025, effective 1 January 2027. It does not restate the 2012–2025 figures discussed here.
- Serenor public series, banks, social basis — Morocco NPL Monitor and methodology
Frequently asked questions
- Does the 8.3% ratio include finance companies?
- No. The end-2025 figure of 8.3% is banks on a social basis. Finance companies have their own line in the supervision report.
- Is a finance-company portfolio priced like a bank portfolio?
- No. Product, security and the unit cost of handling differ. The banks' sector ratio is not a recovery curve for that seller.
Evaluating an NPL Portfolio
Serenor Capital supports financial institutions and investors in the analysis and valuation of non-performing loan portfolios in Morocco.
Serenor Capital publishes research on non-performing loans, distressed-credit valuation and the development of Morocco’s secondary credit market.
This note is general commentary on method and market structure. It is not investment advice, legal advice, or a recommendation in relation to any portfolio, transaction or financial asset.