Attijariwafa stakes claims south of the Sahara

Led by its confident and energetic chief executive, Ismail Douiri, Moroccan bank Attijariwafa is building a big franchise in sub-Saharan Africa as well as consolidating its ties with expatriate Moroccans in Europe.

It’s a steamy mid-September and l’atmosphere in downtown Casablanca could well be mistaken for a languid late summer in Marseilles.

In myriad chic eateries, Fashionable Young Things in oversized Jackie O sunglasses tap instant messages to each other into new iPhones over café au lait, while their male equivalents motor by in late-model Mercs and SUVs.

It’s a similar scene in the city’s southwestern beach suburbs at Africa’s biggest shopping centre, a complex that could have been transplanted from Singapore.

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