Maroclear, the Central Securities Depositary

 

Overview of the system

Since its establishment in 1997 as a Central Depository of Securities, Maroclear has been playing an important role in the Moroccan financial market (see detailed description of the settlement/delivery system on the corporate website of Maroclear).

It offers its customers, consisting exclusively of issuers, banks and brokerage firms, a wide range of services to meet the market needs and the requirements of compliance with international standards.

Governance

Maroclear is a private limited-liability company. It is owned by the state, banks, Bank Al-Maghrib, insurance companies, the Management and Deposit Fund (CDG), and the Casablanca Stock Exchange.

Maroclear is subject to:

  • Oversight by the Ministry of Finance
  • Control by the Transferrable Securities Board (CDVM), and
  • Monitoring by Bank Al-Maghrib, regarding its settlement / delivery system and its activity as a central depository of securities.

Two essential texts govern the activity of Maroclear:

Law No. 35-96 dated  January 9, 1997 on the creation of a central depository and the establishment of a general system of book entry of certain values, promulgated by Dahir No. 1-96 -246, which assigns to the depositary, as primary missions:

  • To centralize custody of securities
  • To manage the settlement/delivery system
  • To simplify exercise of the rights attached to the securities

The general regulation of Maroclear, as approved by the Minister of Finance, which particularly sets out:

  • Rules of securities admission and of account holders affiliation
  • Conditions for exercising the function of account holder
  • Rules of  dematerialized securities circulation and administration, and
  • General principles for securities accounting of Maroclear and of the account holders

Services offered

  • Codification: By virtue of Article 3 of Law No. 35-96, Maroclear is in charge of codifying the securities eligible for its transactions, in its capacity as Moroccan codification agency, in conformity with the international standards applicable thereto.
  • Accounts registration: MAROCLEAR records all the securities of a given value in an “issuance” account it holds on the basis of information provided by the issuing corporation or its agent. MAROCLEAR holds a double-entry bookkeeping. It constantly checks that the total amount of each issuance equals the total amounts recorded in the current accounts opened in its affiliates. In this regard, a securities chart of accounts defining the rules for securities registration and circulation is necessary both for MAROCLEAR and its affiliates.Securities are transferred between market participants exclusively by account-to-account transfers. For each value, MAROCLEAR can open several current accounts in each of its affiliates.
  • Securities transaction: For each securities transaction having an accounting impact (payments of dividends or interests, refunds, allocations or subscriptions, mergers, exchanges ...) 
  • MAROCLEAR shall inform its affiliates about the details of the transaction and credits them, as appropriate, in securities, coupons or rights, depending on their balances at the ex-dividend date. The rights attached to the securities recorded in the current account are exercised by transfer of those rights to the issuing corporation or to an authorized institution (centralizing or paying agent). In return, affiliates obtain, depending on the nature of the corporate action, securities delivery or cash payment (outside MAROCLEAR).
  • Settlement: The settlement/delivery system ensures the circulation of transferrable securities between different securities current accounts by booking operations of free securities delivery (Franco) or of delivery versus payment (DVP). Securities are booked in current accounts of the Central Securities Depository, while cash is booked to accounts opened with Bank Al-Maghrib. 
ARCHITECTURE DU SYSTÈME DE RÈGLEMENT / LIVRAISON

For an optimal viewing of this website's pages, we recommend using the newest versions of the browsers: