As is the case for the rest of the Maghreb, it is with the arrival of Europeans and the institution of the French protectorate, mainly, that the insurance business got established in the kingdom.
The first insurance schemes in Morocco date back to the second half of the 19th century, emanating mainly from the system of foreign concessions authorized by the December 1856 treaty.
The first branches were specialized in marine insurance: the Espagnola in 1879, the Centrale and the Réparation in 1883, the Manheim in 1886, Calpean Maritime Insurance in 1887 are the first examples.
In 1916, the first local company, but with foreign capital, “Le Maroc”, was established in Tangier based essentially on marine and war risks. Until the Second World War, the Moroccan insurance market [4] had been dominated by brokerage firms and branches of foreign companies.
The September 6, 1941 decree provided for the reorganization of the sector by the State. Insurance practice was only possible for the licensed companies. Local risks had to be insured on the territory. A regulation, pertaining to the technical and financial aspects, was enforced. The market, therefore, became made up of Moroccan local companies and foreign insurers having obtained authorization to set up branches.
The Royale Marocaine d’Assurance (RMA), established in 1950, was the first entirely Moroccan-owned company. In 1958, two years following independence, 315 companies, 23 of which Moroccan, shared a market worth 150 million MAD. Because private investors were hardly attracted to insurance, the State was pushed to set up in 1960 the Société Centrale de Réassurance (SCR) which it controlled through the Caisse de Dépôts et de Gestion.
All insurance companies were then required to cede part of their businesses to SCR through a 10% legal cession. The same year, the authorities encouraged the establishment of a direct insurance company: The Compagnie Nord Africaine et Intercontinentale d’Assurance (CNIA) which they control.
The multitude of companies compelled the regulators, back then, to introduce a series of measures in favor of the market cleanup. Mergers were encouraged while those insurance structures, reluctant to comply with the measures in force, were closed down by the authorities.
In 1962, there were 237 insurers in Morocco, 23 of whom had Moroccan status, sharing a market worth 156 million MAD.
To promote mergers, the regulators imposed, in 1965, a minimum turnover of 1 million MAD for each company. This minimum was raised to 4 million MAD in 1968 while Mergers and acquisitions were boosted. In 1970, only 40 insurance companies, operating in a stiffening regulatory framework, survived. In 1975, only 27 companies were present on the market.
It was during the 1990s that the current market panorama took shape. Radical recovery measures were imposed, which led to the winding up of five insurers: the Compagnie Atlantique d’Assurances (CADA), la Renaissance, la Victoire, la Réunion Marocaine d’Assurance et de Réassurance (REMAR) and Arabia Insurance. As no licenses were further granted, the insurers present on the market were encouraged to merge.
Since 2001, only 18 insurers, three of whom are mutuals, continued to operate reporting a global premiums volume worth 10.3 billion MAD, that is, 2.5 times as much as in 1990.
In 2020, the Moroccan insurance market counted 20 insurers and 2 reinsurers. The turnover generated during the same year amounted to 45.297 billion MAD.