The Holmarcom group's proposed acquisition of BMCI, the Moroccan subsidiary of the French giant BNP Paribas, currently awaiting regulatory approval, is shining the spotlight on the group's plans for insurance and banking in Africa.
When the BMCI acquisition was announced in April 2026, Mr Mohamed Hassan Bensalah, CEO of Holmarcom, described it as " a pivotal step in our development trajectory, driven by the ambition to build an integrated financial group encompassing banking, insurance, and specialised financial services."
The completion of the BMCI acquisition, expected by the end of the year, will propel the banking group controlled by the Bensalah family to fourth place in the Moroccan market, according to the publication Jeune Afrique. This deal followed the completion of the acquisition of the local bank Credit du Maroc by Holmarcom in 2024. What is noteworthy is that neither BMCI nor Credit du Maroc has established networks in sub-Saharan Africa.
Nevertheless, some groundwork has been laid to expand the group's insurance business. In 2025, the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank group, acquired a stake in Holmarcom Finance Company (HFC). This followed an initial investment in Holmarcom’s insurance arm — Holmarcom Insurance Activities—in 2021. The goal is to boost access to insurance and finance in Morocco and select countries in sub-Saharan Africa
To carry this out, HFC, which already holds a stake in BMCI through AtlantaSanad Assurance, is leveraging its strong position in the insurance sector.
AtlantaSanad is the second biggest non-life insurer in Morocco. The Group has also been present in Ivory Coast since 2016 through a subsidiary called Atlanta Assurance Côte d'Ivoire. In addition, in February 2022, it launched a takaful company, named Takafulia Assurances, in Morocco.