﻿How Morocco's Casablanca Finance City Became Africa's Leading Financial Expert.
Casablanca is Morocco's capital and biggest city. It is the second
biggest city in the Maghreb area and the ninth largest in the Arab world,
and is located on the Atlantic coast of the Chaouia plain in central-western Morocco.
Casablanca is Morocco's main port and one of Africa's major financial centers.
Africa is a developing continent with a growing population and economy. This includes both the
larger IT community and the finance industry. Emerging and future cities in the emerging market,
notably in Africa, are beginning to emerge and establish themselves in various rankings.
The growth of Africa's financial ecosystem is essential since it will not only offer
the region unprecedented economic riches, but will also promote local talent and enterprises.
For many years, South African cities such as
Johannesburg and Cape Town dominated the continent's financial industry. However,
this is changing as several countries position their capitals to be Africa's financial centre.
According to the Z/Yen Global Financial Centers Index,
Casablanca is now Africa's leading financial hub, ranking 53rd internationally. Kigali, like Lagos,
is considered an associate Center since it does not yet satisfy all of the requirements for
inclusion on the complete list. So, what makes Casablanca Africa's leading financial center?
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Most nations have financial centers; for example, Paris is the financial hub of France,
as most major French financial institutions and the country's main stock exchange,
Euronext Paris, are based there. There are also international financial hubs,
which serve as the primary financial centers for regional economies. London, which acts
as the financial centre for all of Europe, is an example of such a financial hub. Singapore,
Hong Kong, Tokyo, and New York City are all well-known financial centers across the world.
There are numerous benefits to a city being a financial hub;
financial institutions such as commercial banks, investment banks, Securities Exchanges,
and investment advisories can be very profitable businesses, and cities stand
to gain a significant amount of tax revenue when such firms are headquartered within their borders.
Having a financial hub also entails being a convenient place for conducting business
meetings and conferences, which boosts tourism and accompanying tax revenues.
Casablanca's vision of becoming Africa's leading financial center was strengthened
with the establishment of the Casablanca finance city, a public-private initiative born in 2010
when a law was passed inviting global firms to establish regional headquarters in the beautiful
North African city, also known as Casa Anfa. The Financial City was built on the historic
site of Casa Blanca's former airport, with the objective of giving Casa Blanca, the country's
economic center, a worldwide dimension. Casa Anfa is the future city core,
located on 350 hectares of land. The city is firmly devoted to sustainable development,
and a third of the development is dedicated to green spaces, including a 50-hectare park.
The city provides a functional mix of offices, residences,
and retail, among other amenities. The country's authorities want a landmark building built by
a Printz Prize-winning architect for the financial city's first structure. In 2013,
a competition was launched that attracted several world-renowned architects such as Rem Koolhas,
Zaha Hadid, and Thom Mayne. The prize for the first office tower in the financial metropolis
was finally given to Los Angeles-based Thom Mayne, which was his first work in Africa.
The city's business district now houses leading financial institutions and is equipped with
world-class conductivity, including two tram stations, a high-speed train station, and
important road links to Casablanca airport, the city center, residential areas, and other Moroccan
cities such as Rabat, El Jadida, and Marrakesh. With all of these world-class facilities,
Casablanca Finance City has emerged as Africa's top financial hub and a partner of the world's
major international financial centers. It is currently positioned among the greatest worldwide
financial centers, an aim carried out by various agreements, partnerships, and reforms that have
attracted no fewer than 200 businesses, all of which have Casablanca finance city designation.
The city's first skyscraper is now home to 34 tenants and 800 workers.
Casablanca Finance City provides its members with an appealing value proposition and quality
doing business assistance in order to encourage the deployment of their activities in Africa,
with the goal of satisfying its community. The city is dedicated to showcasing its members'
African knowledge while also encouraging synergies and business possibilities within its network.
Casablanca financial city underwent a series of changes, altering its legal and
taxation structures, in order to increase its attractiveness and conform with worldwide best
practices. This reform makes no distinction between domestic and exporting activities.
The improvements include extending qualifying activities, reinforcing compliance standards,
and simplifying the procedure for obtaining Casablanca finance city designation.
The Grand Casablanca area is regarded as the motor of Moroccan economic development.
It attracts 32% of the country's manufacturing units and 56% of its industrial workforce.
The area consumes 30% of the nation's electrical production. The region accounts for 44 percent
of the kingdom's industrial production, with a total value of MAD 93 billion.
The Grand Casablanca accounts for about 33% of national industrial exports
(MAD 27 billion); Casablanca also accounts for 30% of the Moroccan banking network.
Phosphate is one of the most significant Casablancan exports. Fishing, fish canning,
sawmills, furniture manufacture, building materials, glass, textiles, electronics, leather
work, processed food, alcohol, soft drinks, and cigarettes are among the other businesses.
What distinguishes Casablanca as a financial center is its location, which allows for quick
access to the continent from the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia,
with direct flights to 113 locations. Its friendly business climate provides mobile internet speeds
that are faster than those found in Ireland, Vietnam, or Turkey. A simplified two-day company
formation procedure, multilingual mediation and arbitration, and a flat 15% business income tax.
In the previous fifteen years. Morocco's Casablanca financial city has made considerable
social and economic development as a result of large public investment and political,
institutional, and sector changes, as well as macroeconomic stabilization measures.
Morocco's excellent track record and prior successes,
as well as the effective implementation of critical economic and governance reforms, indicate
that the nation will continue to be successful in pursuing its financial hub strategy.
Morocco's ambitious growth ambitions will be supplemented in the next years by the
projected economic expansion in North, West, and Central Africa. The region will benefit from rapid
commerce expansion, population growth, and a range of large infrastructure projects.
According to various estimates, Africa has the world's greatest proportion of unbanked
and underbanked individuals. According to an International Monetary Fund assessment, Africa's
informal economy is one of the world's largest, providing financial institutions and small and
medium-sized enterprises with access to a sizable pool of unbanked and underbanked individuals.
Furthermore, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which went into force on
January 1st of this year, provides international investors with access to the newly opened market
of 1.2 billion consumers, which is expected to boost African exports by $560 billion.
With all of these achievements, Morocco's Casablanca finance metropolis
has positioned itself as the continent's leading financial center for international
investors for the foreseeable future. If you enjoyed this video, and
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