In July 1940, facing challenging prospects at home following the
German invasion of France, the Paris-based BNCI acquired the
Banque de l'Union Nord-Africaine (BUNA) in Algiers to develop its activity outside Europe, renamed it (BNCI-A), and opened a branch in Casablanca. The Moroccan activity became a fully-fledged bank in 1943. In 1950, BNCI-Afrique inaugurated a high-rise head office building on Casablanca's
Place de France. French architect had won the design competition in 1942, and moved to Casablanca in 1943 to oversee the construction works. In 1964, the newly independent Moroccan government implemented a policy of of the banking sector, aimed at shedding colonial legacies. In that context, BNCI renamed its Moroccan operations as BMCI, Meanwhile, the
Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas (BPPB) had started financing the Moroccan Sultanate in 1902, and from 1907 was the controlling shareholder of the
State Bank of Morocco. It developed its activity through two major holding entities, the
Compagnie générale du Maroc (Génaroc) and the
Omnium Nord-Africain. In 1950 it opened its first branch in Casablanca, which in 1974 merged with operations of
Banque Worms to form the
Société Marocaine de Dépôt et de Crédit. These operations were absorbed by BMCI in 2000 following the merger of
BNP (which had succeeded BNCI in 1966) with BPPB (then known as Paribas) to form
BNP Paribas. In November 2001, BMCI also acquired ABN Amro Bank Maroc to consolidate its position in the Morocco financial services market. ,
BNP Paribas retained 65.03 percent of BMCI's total equity. Other shareholders included
AXA Assurance Maroc (9.11 percent), Sanad Assurance (5.84 percent), Atlanta Assurance (4.44 percent) and Holmarcom (2.41 percent). ==See also==