Visa aims to accelerate digital payment adoption in Morocco

Visa is working to advance digital payments in Morocco, celebrating 20 years since opening its office in the country. The company has expanded its local team and collaborated with the government, regulators, public entities, financial institutions, and fintechs to introduce technologies like contactless payments and X-Pays solutions Apple Pay, Google Pay, making Morocco the first North African country to adopt them. Despite these advancements, a major challenge remains the prevalence of cash, which hinders economic formalization. Over 18 million bank cards are in circulation, yet 63% of card transactions are cash withdrawals, representing 78% in value. This is partly due to over 40% of small businesses relying exclusively on cash. Visa aims to demonstrate that digital payments are not a cost but offer benefits by reducing hidden cash management expenses. A significant underestimated opportunity lies in the mass digitalization of very small, small, and medium-sized enterprises VSEs, SMEs. Visa's "Value of Acceptance" study identified 1.2 million addressable Moroccan businesses. A 10% increase in payment digitization can boost GDP by 0.5% to 1%. For SMEs, adopting digital acceptance solutions like Tap to Phone can lead to revenue increases of up to 30%. Visa has invested $3.3 billion in AI and data infrastructure over the last decade to ensure security, blocking $40 billion in fraudulent payments and preventing 80 million illicit transactions globally in 2024. Technologies like