Morocco’s Exchange Office launches probes into suspicious currency operations

Morocco’s Exchange Office has opened wide-ranging investigations into several licensed manual currency exchange offices in major cities, including Casablanca, Tangier, Marrakesh and Fez, after receiving reports of suspicious transactions and speculation on the dirham, according to officials familiar with the matter.

Inspectors reviewed the records of companies previously flagged for auditing, focusing on whether they complied with regulatory procedures and used the Exchange Office’s information-sharing platform to track operations in real time.

Investigations also examined suspicions that some exchange operators were carrying out parallel activities in violation of professional regulations.

Auditors scrutinized documents dating back to the beginning of this year as part of the office’s post-transaction monitoring process.

Four exchange offices in Casablanca were inspected on paper before inspectors moved to Tangier to examine operators suspected of conducting off-the-books activities, the sources said.

Preliminary findings revealed manual exchange transactions carried out without official oversight, raising concerns about undeclared operations. Inspectors also identified growing networks speculating on foreign currencies against the dirham through some licensed offices.

Sanctions under consideration could include license withdrawal for those found in breach of the law.

The Exchange Office carried out 353 investigations across multiple economic sectors in a single year, including 246 audits targeting companies in trade, industry, food processing, textiles, services, and information technology.

Fifty-four investigations specifically targeted foreign exchange offices, while 53 examined compliance with national anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing rules.

According to officials, gaps were found in compliance procedures, with some offices failing to verify customer identities or report suspicious transactions.

Names of repeat Moroccan and foreign clients raised red flags, some of whom are under parallel investigations by police, gendarmes and customs services for currency smuggling and illicit trade.

The latest monitoring relied heavily on the Exchange Office’s digital information-sharing platform, which allowed inspectors to track transactions in real time.

The system helped uncover rising flows of foreign currencies in the “black market” compared with the regulated system, alongside increased euro and dollar conversions into dirhams.