Morocco’s much-anticipated fintech era, slated to kick off this month, has been officially deferred. The plan was simple: the country’s long-standing electronic payments monopoly, the Interbank Electronic Banking Center (CMI), would have been forced to give up its core business by October 31, 2025, finally opening the lucrative merchant-acquiring market to a swarm of new payment institutions (PIs).

That plan is now in limbo.

On October 27, Morocco’s Competition Council announced it had granted CMI — the very entity it was meant to be breaking up — an extension. This decision comes just one month after CMI hosted a lavish “Casablanca Payment Agreement” ceremony to celebrate the start of this new, open, and competitive era.

The Great Unbundling (Postponed)

For decades, CMI has been Moroccan payments. A consortium of the country’s major banks, it has run the entire show, from the central processing platform to being the sole acquirer signing up merchants for card payments. By 2024, it was processing over 200 million transactions annually.

But this all-in-one model was deemed anti-competitive. Under Competition Council Decision №152/D/2024, CMI was mandated to become a “neutral technical platform.” It would keep running the “rails,” but it had to transfer all its merchant contracts to new, independent acquirers — many of them nimble fintechs .

As the deadline approached, CMI filed for a six-month extension. The official reasons? The “time required to obtain the necessary authorizations” and, in a masterstroke of unassailable excuses, the fact that Morocco is hosting the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN 2025).

The argument, presumably, is that one cannot risk payment terminals failing while the nation’s fans are buying half-time snacks. The regulator, not wanting to be the one to disrupt the beautiful game, blinked.

A Very Specific Reprieve

The Competition Council, keen to look like it’s still in charge, didn’t grant the full request. Instead, it split the difference with bureaucratic precision:

• For government and public institution contracts: CMI gets its full six-month extension, until April 30, 2026.
• For all other merchant contracts: CMI gets a three-month extension, until January 31, 2026.

This “compromise” ensures the incumbent gets to hold onto its most significant contracts (public sector) for the longest possible time, while the new fintechs must wait until after the New Year to fully compete for the rest.

To prove its seriousness, the Council has attached a “daily penalty” should CMI miss these new deadlines — a classic regulatory threat that, for now, remains just a threat. The Council insists this will “guarantee the success of the transfer… while ensuring the effective and rapid opening” of the market. “Rapid,” in this context, now means three to six months later than planned.

On September 18, CMI hosted the “Casablanca Payment Agreement,” bringing together 150 participants — including regulators, banks, and the very PIs it’s now been allowed to keep competing with.

The event celebrated CMI’s official (and supposedly complete) transformation in May 2025 into a “neutral and open technical platform.” CMI’s Director General, Rachid Saihi, spoke of a “historic step” and assured the audience that the “transformation has been smooth” and “merchants continue to enjoy the service quality.”

This “smooth transition,” it now appears, was so smooth that CMI required a last-minute extension to complete it.

The new players — like Al Filahi Cash, Attijari Payment, and Damane Cash — were all present, having already launched their acquiring services on CMI’s platform. They are now in the awkward position of having to wait longer to compete on a level playing field, all while relying on the “neutral” incumbent for their technical backbone.

CMI’s ambition, according to its DG, is to “act as a catalyst for a modern, competitive, and accessible payments market” aligned with the “Digital Morocco 2030” plan. For Morocco’s fintechs, 2030 must feel a long way off. For now, they’ll have to settle for January 31.