Africa’s second largest stock exchange, Bourse de Casablanca, has launched a new futures market (MAT) and central counterparty clearing house (CCP).
The move is expected to provide a structural advancement for Morocco’s broader financial ecosystem, and will allow investors to trade futures contracts on the exchange, with the aim of anticipating market movements, hedge against volatility, and diversify strategies.
Specifically, both offerings will go through a phased launch, with the first available instruments set to be futures contracts on the MASI.20 index, with the suite set to expand to further contracts such as interest rates in the future.
Nasser Seddiqi, chief executive of Bourse de Casablanca, said: “This is a historic moment for Morocco. We are not merely launching new instruments, but an entirely new market equipped with world-class infrastructure that will strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of our economy.
By providing investors – whether fund managers, institutional players, or retail participants – with effective hedging tools, we are firmly anchoring Casablanca as a leading regional financial hub”.
Both infrastructures, which will be operated by Group Bourse de Casablanca, are also expected to contribute to enhanced market transparency, through the provision of a regulated framework and structured ecosystem.
In addition, the move also marks the first stage of Bourse de Casablanca’s move towards an integrated group, structured around the three business pillars of a spot market, futures market, and clearing.