A year and half only after signing a strategic partnership agreement directed towards the Islamic finance sector, Moroccan group Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) and Guidance Financial Group now take action. The two groups have indeed decided to launch a new halal bank in which BCP will hold a 80% stake while Guidance Finance Group is to hold the remaining 20%, Moroccan newspaper l’Economiste reported on February 5^th.

The new bank will be named Banque Participative du Maroc.

Subsidiary of the sovereign fund Qatari Barwa, Guidance Financial Group operates mostly in the sectors of Shariah-compliant mortgage loans, in U.S and Saudi Arabia, in the management of Islamic assets in Asia, and in the luxury hotel sector in Middle East, Northern Africa and Europe.

“It is advantageous to have chosen a technical partner who is active in many areas of participative finance. It provides an easier access to top professional expertise relating the industry and also to members of Shariah Board in various structures of our partner, some of them being internationally renowned,” said BCP’s detail banking division’s CEO, Laidi El Wardi, cited by l’Economiste.

According to him, Banque participative du Maroc “will provide the market with an authentic and innovating demand”.

Last December, Morocco’s Central Bank announced it was going to award the first Islamic banking licenses during the first half of 2016.