BMCE Bank announced in a communiqué published on 21^st September having made a net profit of 1.1 billion dirhams (USD 114 million) for the first half 2015, up by 18% compared to the same period in 2014.

The banking group founded by Moroccan billionaire Othman Benjelloun (photo) also explained that its Moroccan activities contributed up to 64% to its net profit while the contribution of its African subsidiaries represents 28%. The remainder (8%) comes from the group’s operations in Europe.

The profit increase of the Moroccan bank, which has offices in 20 African countries through its Bank of Africa, La Congolaise de Banque and the Banque de Développement du Mali subsidiaries, is essentially explained by the drop in allowance for doubtful accounts receivable at 806 million dirhams, thus a drop of 24% compared first half 2014.

BMCE posted 7.3 billion dirhams of doubtful accounts receivable, against 6.8 billion dirhams by end 2014.

The group’s banking income reached 5.9 billion dirhams during the first semester 2015, an increase of 6% compared to the same period in 2014.

The Return On Equity (ROE) was at 13.9% by end June 2015 against 13.7% at the end of the preceding year.