The opening of card acquiring in Morocco: what changes for merchants

For years, accepting card payments in Morocco meant going through a single interbank operator. That is no longer the case. In decision No. 152/D/2024 of October 31, 2024, the Competition Council (Conseil de la concurrence) made binding a set of commitments that open up this market; since May 1, 2025, duly authorised payment institutions and bank subsidiaries dedicated to acquiring have been able to operate in it. For a merchant, the consequence is simple: there are now several possible counterparts, and the question “who holds the licence, and to do what?” becomes the first one to ask. This analysis goes back to the official texts, without interpreting them, and shows where the Chari group stands in this landscape.

Card acquiring: what are we talking about?

When a customer pays by card, several parties are involved. The bank that issued the card authorises or declines the transaction. The acquirer, for its part, accepts the transaction on behalf of the merchant: that is the activity known as card acquiring. Between the two, a gateway or a payment service provider supplies the payment page, the authentication and the tools that allow the merchant to keep track of the payments they collect.

These roles are often confused, because a merchant only ever sees a payment page and a statement. Yet they do not fall under the same contracts, nor under the same authorisations. And it is precisely the role of acquirer that the Competition Council's decision has reopened to new players.

What the authorities decided

Decision No. 152/D/2024 of October 31, 2024

In decision No. 152/D/2024 of October 31, 2024, the Competition Council (Conseil de la concurrence) made binding a set of commitments concerning card acquiring (accepting card transactions on behalf of merchants), a market until then marked, in the Council's own words, by a quasi-monopoly. According to the joint press release of July 2026, these commitments covered in particular the opening of this market to new operators, following a precise timetable.

May 1, 2025: new players may operate

The Council's press release of May 19, 2025 states that duly authorised payment institutions and bank subsidiaries dedicated to acquiring may operate in that market as of May 1, 2025, and that the transitional period ends on November 1, 2025. In other words, card acquiring is no longer reserved for a single player: an authorised payment institution may now offer this service to merchants.

July 10, 2026: the joint review with Bank Al-Maghrib

The joint press release of the Competition Council and Bank Al-Maghrib dated July 10, 2026 describes the transition from a single-acquirer model to a multi-acquirer architecture and recalls that the decision required the former operator to divest its entire portfolio of merchant contracts, by January 31, 2026 for private contracts and April 30, 2026 for public ones.

Who are payment institutions?

Payment institutions are a category created by law No. 103-12 on credit institutions and similar bodies. We quote the text without interpreting it and without drawing any promise from it. Its article 11 places payment institutions among the bodies treated as similar to credit institutions. Its article 16 lists the payment services, among them transfers of funds, cash deposits and withdrawals on a payment account, card payments and transfers involving funds held in a payment account. Its article 18 prohibits any person who is not licensed as a credit institution or as a payment institution from carrying out these services as a regular profession, subject to the exceptions it provides for.

The licence is granted by the wali of Bank Al-Maghrib after the opinion of the credit institutions committee, and the decision is published in the Official Bulletin (article 34). Bank Al-Maghrib draws up and keeps up to date the list of licensed institutions, and publishes the changes made to it in the Official Bulletin (article 48).

How many are there? On its Structure of the banking system page, consulted on October 2, 2026, Bank Al-Maghrib states that at the end of 2024, 93 credit institutions and similar bodies were licensed in Morocco, 18 of them payment institutions. We copy no name: a copied list goes stale, the official publication prevails.

What this changes for a merchant

For a shop, a restaurant or an online store, the opening of the market first of all means a choice. Several players may now offer card acceptance, each with its own offers, tools and customer journeys. Comparing them becomes possible; you still have to compare the right things. Before signing anything, five questions help you see clearly:

1. Which entity holds the licence, and in which category? A brand name is not enough: it is the institution behind it that you need to identify.
2. Which activity is this entity authorised for, and who actually accepts your card payments?
3. Which account does the money arrive in, in whose name, and when can you use it?
4. Which payment methods are accepted, and can your customer pay by some means other than a card?
5. Which tools do you get to track, refund and reconcile the payments you collect?

ChariPay's guide to choosing a payment platform in Morocco goes through these criteria in detail. As soon as a contract or an activity needs to be qualified in legal terms, only your advisor can give an opinion.

Where the Chari group stands in this landscape

The Chari group includes one payment institution: Chari Money, licensed by Bank Al-Maghrib. It is Chari Money that holds the licence, not the group and not its brands. It operates ChariPay, the group's payment solution for merchants, and offers white-label fintech infrastructure to partners, subject to the approval of Bank Al-Maghrib.

ChariPay is a Moroccan payment platform, a PSP operated by Chari Money, a payment institution licensed by Bank Al-Maghrib. It collects payments by card — Visa, Mastercard and Maroc Pay by default, with 3-D Secure — and, on the page of a single-use payment link, in cash at an agency of the Chari network. ChariPay's reference page, PSP in Morocco, explains what a licence covers and how to read one. In a market that is opening up, the question “who holds the licence?” matters all the more: for ChariPay, the answer is Chari Money.

Beyond online payment, the group also works on the last mile: the agent network of Charicash brings financial services into the neighbourhood, and our article on cash and digital payment shows how the two worlds live side by side at the shop counter.

What these texts do not say

The official press releases describe the opening of a market and a timetable. They do not publish any market share, they do not name a winner, and they do not say which player is the right fit for a given merchant. We stick to what they say. For everything else — fees, timeframes, conditions — the only reliable source is the provider's written proposal, to be read over with your advisor.

Frequently asked questions

What is card acquiring?

It is the activity of accepting card transactions on behalf of merchants. The bank that issued the card authorises the payment; the acquirer accepts it for the merchant. A gateway or a payment service provider supplies the payment page and the tools used to track payments. These three roles can be held by different players.

What did decision No. 152/D/2024 change?

With this decision of October 31, 2024, the Competition Council made binding a set of commitments that open card acquiring up to new operators. Since May 1, 2025, duly authorised payment institutions and bank subsidiaries dedicated to acquiring have been able to operate in this market; the transitional period ended on November 1, 2025.

How many payment institutions are licensed in Morocco?

According to Bank Al-Maghrib's Structure of the banking system page, consulted on October 2, 2026, 93 credit institutions and similar bodies were licensed at the end of 2024, 18 of them payment institutions. More recent licences and changes to the list are published in the Official Bulletin, which is the authoritative reference.

Is the Chari group an acquirer?

The group includes one payment institution, Chari Money, licensed by Bank Al-Maghrib, which operates ChariPay. The texts quoted here name no player, and we draw no conclusion from them about anyone's status as an acquirer. To find out who accepts your card payments, ask your provider in writing.

What should a merchant check before choosing a provider?

The exact name of the licensed entity and its category, the activity it is authorised for, the account the money arrives in and the name it is held in, the payment methods accepted and the tracking tools provided. The official list of Bank Al-Maghrib and the Official Bulletin are what count, not a sales page.

Sources

• Competition Council — press release of May 19, 2025 (decision No. 152/D/2024 of October 31, 2024) — read on October 2, 2026
• Competition Council and Bank Al-Maghrib — joint press release of July 10, 2026 — read on October 2, 2026
• Bank Al-Maghrib — Structure of the banking system (figures at the end of 2024) — read on October 2, 2026
• Bank Al-Maghrib — Law No. 103-12 on credit institutions and similar bodies, consolidated version as of March 31, 2022 (PDF), articles 11, 16, 18, 34 and 48 — read on October 2, 2026