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Guide · updated 6 November 2026

Guide: opening a bank account in Morocco

A foreigner can open a bank account in Morocco before getting a residence card: a foreign currency account or a convertible dirham account. Once you are a resident, you add an ordinary dirham account. If you are retired, your pension must be paid into this ordinary account. Otherwise you lose an important tax advantage.

Types of account

Account Who it is for What it lets you do
Foreign currency account Foreigners, resident or not Hold euros, pay in Morocco and abroad, send money back out with no limit
Convertible dirham account Foreigners, resident or not Receive transfers from abroad converted into dirhams, which you can convert back and send out at any time
Ordinary dirham account Residents (with a residence card) Your everyday account: Moroccan salary, rent, bills, pension

No overdraft is allowed on foreign currency or convertible dirham accounts. Whether the bank treats you as a resident or a non-resident follows your tax residency.

Documents to prepare

Each bank sets its own list. There is no official list. Usually you will be asked for:

  1. Your passport and a full copy of it.
  2. Your residence card, for a resident account.
  3. Proof of address in Morocco: a registered lease or a bill less than 3 months old.
  4. Proof of income: an employment contract, payslips or a pension statement.
  5. A first deposit, often 200 to 500 DH.

Arriving with more than 100,000 DH in foreign cash? Declare it at customs and keep the original declaration. The bank will ask for it before you can pay that cash into your account.

Retirees: where to have your pension paid

The Moroccan tax office cuts the tax on a foreign pension by 80%, but only on the sums transferred permanently into non-convertible dirhams (article 76 of the General Tax Code).

In practice:

  1. Have your pension paid into an ordinary dirham account, not into a foreign currency or convertible dirham account.
  2. Open this account at the same bank as your convertible account, if you have one. The regulations require it so that you can later move part of your pension into it.
  3. Every year, ask your bank for the certificate showing the amounts received in foreign currency and their value in dirhams. You need it for your tax return (due before 1 March).

Fees

Account fees per quarter, from a survey by La Vie éco (March 2024):

Bank Fees per quarter (DH)
Société Générale (now Saham Bank), Crédit du Maroc, BMCI, Bank of Africa 71.5
Attijariwafa bank 59.4
CFG Bank 55
CIH Bank, Crédit Agricole du Maroc 49.5
Banque Populaire 46.2
Al Barid Bank 36

Attijariwafa bank's official price list, in force since June 2024, gives: 49.50 DH per quarter for a convertible dirham account with an average balance under 50,000 DH, 210 DH a year for an international Mastercard, and 6 DH per withdrawal from another bank's cash machine.

Bank Al-Maghrib, the central bank, requires 22 free services. They include opening and closing the account, the RIB (your bank details), withdrawals from your own bank's cash machines and incoming transfers. Account fees are not one of them.

How long it takes

No official source gives a timeframe. Specialist websites say: RIB straight away, account active in 24 to 48 hours, card in 7 to 15 days, chequebook in 15 to 30 days. Allow 2 to 4 weeks in total.

Which bank to choose

  • Attijariwafa bank, Banque Populaire and Saham Bank let you start your application at a branch in Europe, then activate the account when you arrive.
  • French-owned banks have almost disappeared. Société Générale Maroc became Saham Bank in 2025. In April 2026, BNP Paribas agreed to sell BMCI to the Holmarcom group, which already owns Crédit du Maroc. The sale is expected at the end of 2026. BMCI and Crédit du Maroc customers should expect changes in 2027.

Wise, Revolut and French cards

  • Wise sends dirhams to a Moroccan account: up to 3,000,000 DH per transfer, using the 24-digit RIB, in 1 to 3 working days. Some Moroccan banks charge up to 20 DH to receive it.
  • Cash machines: expect a maximum of about 2,000 DH per withdrawal. Always pay in dirhams and turn down the conversion the machine offers.
  • Cash: you cannot bring more than 2,000 DH in notes into Morocco or take more than that out.

What is not yet confirmed

  • How to switch from a non-resident account to a resident account: it depends on each bank.
  • Opening an account fully online as a foreigner who is not Moroccan.
  • Whether Revolut can send dirhams to a Moroccan account.
  • Official 2026 price lists for banks other than Attijariwafa.

Sources

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