RETROSPECTIVE OVERVIEW        The opening of the first banking counters in Morocco goes back to the second half of the 19th century.        Founded by The Act of Algeciras, which was signed in 1906 by the delegates of twelve European countries, in addition to the United States of America and Morocco, the «  Banque d’Etat du Maroc » (the State Bank of Morocco) was established, in Tangiers, in 1907, in the form of a public limited company. Its capital was divided among signatory countries, except for the United States. Besides its business activities, the «  Banque d’Etat du Maroc » had the privilege of issuing banknotes throughout the Kingdom of Morocco. It also assumed the role of financial agent of the Moroccan Government.        In 1912, with the advent of the French protectorate, many important European commercial banks, especially French ones, as well as investment banks and foreign financial groups established many subsidiaries in Morocco. Likewise, Moroccan financial institutions performing specific functions and intervening in particular fields were created. This concerns namely the «  Caisse des prêts Immobiliers du Maroc » (Moroccan Real Estate Loan Fund), some specialized banks that finance agriculture, the «Caisse Centrale de Garantie», (Central Guarantee Fund), the «  Caisse Marocaine des Marchés », (The Moroccan Guarantee and Credit Fund) and the «  Crédit Populaire du Maroc ».        The banking activity, which was ruled by no particular law, was organized for the first time in 1943, further to the promulgation of the Dahir of 31 March relating to the regulation and the organization of the banking activity. The application rules were laid down by the order of the Director of Finance of that period, then were amended and supplemented by the orders of 15 January 1954, 17 January and 16 April 1955.        Accordingly, the Director of Finance had a broad scope in the field of control and regulation of the banking activity, as well as the power of sanction of any failures.        For the achievement of his mission, the Director of Finance was assisted by the «   Comité des banques », (Banking Committee), an advisory authority which was in charge of giving opinions or making proposals on all questions related to the banking industry and which call for either specific or general measures to be taken.        This institutional framework was supplemented by the institution of the « Comité du Crédit et du Marché Financier » (Committee of Credit and Financial Market), an advisory body that has the ability to give its opinions to the Director of Finance, particularly with regard to the general policy of credit and financial market.        The field of application of the above mentioned texts, which covered only the territorial zone under the French protectorate, was extended by the orders of 14 August 1958 and 31 March 1960 respectively, to the zone under Spanish occupation, then to the province of Tangiers which had a particular status..               Shortly,after the independence of Morocco in 1956, the foundations of the national banking system were then implemented.               Thus, the «  Banque du Maroc » (Bank of Morocco) was established by the Dahir n° 1-59-233 of 30 June 1959 to replace the «  Banque d’Etat du Maroc » and to ensure the functions of a Central Bank. It was created as a state-owned institution with legal personality and financial autonomy, entrusted with the privilege of issuing banknotes and coins, and the mission of safeguarding the stability of the currency as well as preserving the soundness of the banking system. On March 1987, the denomination of « Banque du Maroc » was replaced by « Bank Al-Maghrib ».        In addition and in order to meet the economic objectives and the needs for financing specific economic sectors of major importance, the Government carried out the creation of some specialized financial institutions and the restructuring of others.        In 1959, the « Caisse de Dépôt et de Gestion » (Deposit and Management Fund), the « Fonds d’Equipement Communal » (Municipal Equipment Fund), the « Caisse d’Epargne Nationale » (National Savings Fund), the « Banque Nationale pour le Développement Economique » (National Bank for Economic Development) and the « Banque Marocaine du Commerce Extérieur » (Moroccan Bank for Foreign Trade) were created.        In 1961, the « crédit agricole » and the «  Crédit Populaire » were restructured.        Lastly, the « Crédit Immobilier et Hôtelier » (Real Estate and Hotel Loan Institution), which succeeded to the «  Caisse de Prêts Immobiliers » in 1967, was restructured in accordance with the Royal order provisions enacting law of 17 December 1968.        This period was also characterized by the reduction of the number of banks, which was brought back from 69 to 26 between 1954 and 1961, under merger effect.        The second significant stage of the implementation and the consolidation of the Moroccan banking system began with the promulgation of the Royal order n° 1-67-66 of 21 April 1967 enacting law related to banking industry and credit, whose main contributions consist of a more precise definition of a bank’s activity, the demarcation of duties of Official Authorities as well   as the establishment of a more suitable regulation.        The provisions of the order referred to above were extended to the « Crédit Populaire » in 1970. In 1986, the regulations of title III of the enacting law relating to bank and credit control, were extended to the « Banque Nationale pour le Développement Economique » and to the « Crédit Immobilier et Hôtelier » which were, in other aspects, authorized to collect deposits. In 1987, « La Caisse Nationale du Crédit Agricole », as for its part, was entitled to finance other activities in rural areas.        Finally, and in order to promote investment projects initiated by the Moroccans residing abroad, two institutions were created in 1989. It concerns Bank Al-AMAL, which is charged, in particular, with granting participative loans or subordinated loans, and DAR AD-DAMANE which aims to guarantee, inter alia, the loans authorized by the first entity.