Morocco: Wafa Assurance eyeing English-speaking African markets
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Mar 2017
Wafa Assurance, one of Morocco’s biggest insurers, plans to enlarge its footprint on the African continent by targeting anglophone countries.
It plans to expand in these countries through acquisitions, said Mr Taoufik Benjelloun Touimy, Deputy CEO of Wafa Assurance. “We are interested in other geographies with important markets, such as anglophone Africa,” he said.
Wafa Assurance’s new three-year strategic plan “Oufouq 2018” looks at a much faster development in Africa, to be effected, in particular, in English-speaking countries, reported Le Matin.
A subsidiary of the banking group Attijariwafa Bank, Wafa Assurance has so far concentrated on the creation of greenfield subsidiaries in francophone African countries where its parent bank has operations.
At present, the insurance group – apart from its home base of Morocco – has six subsidiaries in four other African countries: one in Tunisia, two in Senegal, one in Cameroon and two in Ivory Coast.
Last October, in a move forging an alliance, Attijariwafa Bank sold 50% of OGM Holding, the parent company of Wafa Assurance, to the royal holding firm National Investment Co (SNI). OGM controls 79.29% of Wafa Assurance.
The deal gives Attijariwafa Bank the capital needed for its international expansion, particularly in Egypt and more generally in anglophone African countries.