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24-531: It is a project launched by billionaire Othman Benjelloun, chief executive officer of BMCE . In 2013, the BMCE group signed an agreement with the Anfa urbanization and development agency (AUDA) to construct the tower in the new Anfa business district. In 2014, Benjelloun presented the model of the BMCE tower: “A tower that I wanted represented by a rocket. This rocket will carry thousands of executive members and employees of

48-529: A 14.8 percent stake in Wafabank. In 2000 Wafabank and Keur Khadim, a Senegalese holding company, agreed to establish Senbank to provide banking services in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). In 2001, Wafabank acquired BBVA 's subsidiary BBVA Maroc and BBVA (the successor of BBV) increased its stake in Wafabank to 10 percent, further cementing the partnership commenced in 1997. In 2004,

72-714: A 35% shareholding interest, bringing financial capital and banking expertise. BMCE became majority owner of the BOA group in 2010, and held a 72.6 percent equity stake by 2013. In 2020, BMCE itself assumed the new name Bank of Africa - BMCE Group. Through successive transactions since 2004, Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale has become the second major shareholder of the group with 25% of the company's equity as of end-2020. The largest shareholder remains Othman Benjelloun at 27.4 percent, through his O Capital holding company and insurance company RMA Watanya. As of end-2023, Bank of Africa S.A. (Luxembourg) remained as an internal holding company of

96-695: A cost of 357 million euros. Construction is being carried out by the Moroccan company TGCC, a national leading in public works and buildings, the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCCI) and Belgian group BESIX, which built the Burj Khalifa in Dubai . The architects of the tower are Spanish architect Rafael de la Hoz and Moroccan architect Hakim Benjelloun. Started in July 2017, its completion

120-486: A fully-fledged Spanish subsidiary. In 1989, it took a minority stake in the public development bank of Mali , the first expansion of a Moroccan bank into sub-Saharan Africa . In 1995, it was privatized and taken over by Othman Benjelloun through his controlling ownership of insurer Royale Marocaine d'Assurance  [ fr ] . Bank of Africa was established in late 1982, in Bamako, Mali , by local businesspeople. It

144-639: A group of Moroccan private investors acquired majority control of the CMCB, together with the Suez Company . In 1985, CMCB changed its name to Wafabank. In 1986, Wafabank moved its head office from Tangier to Casablanca . In 1987 it established a subsidiary in Belgium. In 1993 it carried out an initial public offering . In 1996, Wafabank acquired Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBV)'s subsidiary Uniban, and BBV took an 8 percent stake in Wafabank. Credit Agricole Indosuez also took

168-680: A mix of Western and multilateral development institutions, and local individuals and entities. BOA also maintains representative offices in Ethiopia , Spain , the United Kingdom , China , Italy , Germany , UAE , Belgium , Canada , and the Netherlands . Nonbank subsidiaries: Additional entities of the BOA Group: Wafabank Wafabank was a private bank in Morocco . It was

192-605: Is an international financial services group headquartered in Casablanca , Morocco . It was formed through the 2010 acquisition of Bank of Africa (est. 1982 in Mali ) by the Banque Marocaine du Commerce Extérieur ( BMCE , Arabic : البنك المغربي للتجارة الخارجية , lit.   ' Moroccan Bank of Foreign Trade ' , est. 1959), following which BMCE rebranded its commercial operations as Bank of Africa in 2020. The BMCE name survives in

216-499: Is announced for 2023. It will measure 250 meters and will be the second tallest tower in Africa. It is designed to be visible from a distance of 50 kilometers all around. Its budget is 3.5 billion MAD. With 55 floors, it will include a luxury hotel, offices, high-end apartments and an observatory located at the top of the tower. The south facade of the tower houses photovoltaic panels. Bank of Africa Group Bank of Africa ( BOA )

240-771: The French Development Agency ), the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), and Paris-based Natexis (later Natixis ). AFH / Bank of Africa Group expanded through a mix of internal growth and acquisitions, including: Meanwhile BOA established and grew operations of its own in Benin (1990), Burkina Faso (1998), Senegal (2001), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2010), Togo (2013), and Ethiopia (2014). In 2004, in partnership with

264-550: The byline "BMCE Group" incorporated in the BOA brand identity. As of 2024, BOA's two main shareholders were Moroccan financier Othman Benjelloun and French bank Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale , with around 27 and 25 percent respectively. BOA is listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange . As of 2024, BOA was the third-largest bank in Morocco, behind market leader Attijariwafa Bank and the cooperative BCP Group . At

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288-655: The BMCE group to space. This Rocket will be ready for take-off from a Launch Pad, also represented in this project." Its objective was to build a rocket-shaped tower in Casablanca that will house the new headquarters of the banking group. Benjelloun claims that the rocket shape would be inspired from his experience in the United States: “This particular shape is inspired by my visit to the NASA space agency, at Cape Canaveral in Florida in

312-628: The DRC (86.6 percent), Djibouti (100 percent), France (94.8 percent), Ghana (98 percent), Kenya (89.5 percent), Ivory Coast (69.8 percent), Madagascar (61.1 percent), Mali (64.2 percent), Niger (59.1 percent), Rwanda (95 percent), Senegal (61.7 percent), Tanzania (96.2 percent), Togo (94.5 percent), and Uganda (92.2 percent), as well as minority stakes in the Banque de l'Habitat du Bénin (24.2 percent) and Banque de Crédit de Bujumbura (24.22 percent). The individual entities' other shareholders are typically

336-501: The USA, where I was invited to participate in a spaceflight simulation, in 1969, in company of the astronaut Pete Conrad, prior to the launch of the actual flight of Apollo 12 to the moon in November of the same year." Originally planned for Casablanca Finance City , the initial plan for the bank's headquarters was slated to be 135 meters high and completed in 2016. Benjelloun then decided to take

360-755: The bulk of the Société de Banque du Maghreb (SBM), the Moroccan subsidiary of the former CFAT, while Société Générale Morocco acquired about a fifth of the SBM's activity. BMCE then opened its first overseas branch in Paris in 1972, and listed on the Casablanca Stock Exchange in 1974. In 1975, it absorbed the Banco Español en Marruecos , headquartered in Tétouan , and in 1989 opened BMCE International in Madrid , which in 1993 became part of

384-543: The foreign shareholders included BCI (16.7 percent), Mouton Roger Group (12.5 percent), Banco di Roma , Bank of America , Bank of West Africa (BWA), Banque Française du Commerce Extérieur , Commerzbank , and Skandinaviska Banken (2.8 percent each); private Moroccan shareholders held an additional 4.2 percent, while the Moroccan government retained 50 percent. In 1965 BWA, acquired that year by Standard Bank , transferred to BMCE its branch in Tangier . In 1971, BMCE took over

408-671: The group, with its equity capital owned by Bank of Africa - BMCE Group (72.41 percent), FMO (9.41 percent), Proparco (3.73 percent), and other shareholders (14.45 percent). The sub-Saharan African country in which BOA held the most assets was Burkina Faso, followed by Ivory Coast and Benin. In total, international activities (outside Morocco) represented 32 percent of the group's consolidated assets at end-2023. Also at end-2023, Bank of Africa - BMCE Group retained direct control of operations in Morocco, while BOA SA had majority-owned subsidiaries in Benin (54.1 percent stake), Burkina Faso (56.5 percent),

432-652: The local government, it also created a specialized mortgage bank in Cotonou , the Banque de l'Habitat du Benin (BHB), which however did not develop as significantly as initially envisaged. In 2010, BOA opened a subsidiary in France, developing from an earlier representative office opened in Paris in 2000. In 2008, Luxembourg-based AFH, the parent company of the Bank of Africa Group, rebranded itself into Bank of Africa Group S.A., and BMCE took

456-469: The project to 190 meters high. In March 2016, 10 additional floors were added to the plan and it was announced that the tower would instead be built in the city of Salé . The building, now renamed the Mohammed VI Tower, would house a mix of components for hotel use, offices, residential and retail. The project began on 9 March 2016, when King Mohammed VI laid the first stone of the new skyscraper, at

480-582: The successor in Morocco of the Compagnie Algérienne , which had established its first Moroccan branch in Tangier in 1904, later complemented by branches in Casablanca and other Moroccan cities. By 1959, the Compagnie Algérienne had 38 branches in Morocco, the largest network in the country. In 1964, the Moroccan operations became an autonomous subsidiary of the Compagnie Algérienne, named Compagnie Marocaine de Crédit et de Banque (CMCB). In 1968,

504-505: The time of Moroccan independence , the new country's banking system was dominated by French banks, namely the Banque Commerciale du Maroc controlled by Crédit Industriel et Commercial and the local operations of Banque Nationale pour le Commerce et l'Industrie , Crédit Lyonnais , and Société Générale as well as Algeria -centric Compagnie Algérienne and Crédit Foncier d'Algérie et de Tunisie (CFAT). The creation of BMCE in 1959

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528-537: Was established in Luxembourg as a holding company for BOA Mali and operations to be added in other African countries. The objectives of AFH were to promote the establishment of banking subsidiaries across Africa, with local capital participation as a key component and to offer both management, technical support as well as equity participation in these new banking subsidiaries. To increase their capital base, AFH then took on new investors including Proparco (an affiliate of

552-457: Was formed to address the scarcity of banking services for local businesses and individuals, which was prevalent not only in Mali at that time, but across most of Francophone West Africa . This initial effort was without any external financial backing. The initial success of BOA led to the group gradual expansion and reorganization away from its Malian origins. In 1988, African Financial Holdings (AFH)

576-423: Was the first step in a decades-long process, known locally as marocanisation , of reduction of that colonial legacy. BMCE was established in 1959 as a government-owned commercial entity and in 1962 opened its capital to foreign strategic investors, the main one being Banca Commerciale Italiana (BCI) which had been present in Morocco since 1928 and brought BMCE its network of branches in the country. By late 1962,

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