Morocco's major state-owned banking group, Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP), on Monday announced a program to develop e-commerce.
"Aware of the opportunities offered by the electronic trade, the BCP Group intends to play a key role in this field, through creating a new firm, Maroc Telecommerce," said Mohamed Benchaaboune, director of the BCP information systems service, at a press conference.
Maroc Telecommerce becomes the first brokering firm in the field of e-commerce. The firm's $2 million capital is shared by BCP, with 34 per cent of shares, and the remaining 66 percent held by three other banks.
"E-commerce's first crucial consideration is to ensure the safety of transactions and payment," said Benchaaboune. He said "the bank's participation in Maroc Telecommerce firm is a warrant for the safety of e-trade transactions in Morocco in accordance with the relevant international norms."
Maroc Telecommerce will intervene to create and exploit electronic trading stores and the certification of e-traders. It will also include its clients' sites on the major search engines of the Internet.
The newly created firm seeks to distinguish itself with an efficient management of transactions (using electronic orders by purchasers, treatment of payments, confirmation of sale, an electronic acknowledgment of receipt, etc.) It will also supervise payments by Visa and Mastercard, offline payments and electronic money.
The firm's major targeted fields are handicrafts, small and medium enterprises, said Benchaaboune. He said his bank considers e-commerce as a strategic aim for Moroccan businesses, helping increase their turnover, especially through exports. –(Albawaba-MEBG)
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