EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
For H1-24, the Attijariwafa bank Group reported achievements above our expectations for the 3rd consecutive year. In fact, the annual achievement rates of the NBI and the NIGS exceed the level of 50%, i.e. respectively 53% and 56% in average.
An acceleration of the NBI supported by the Market Activities
The Group's NBI accelerated by +16.6% to MAD 17,023 Mn in the first half of 2024, the strongest growth observed in the last decade. This performance is driven by the positive contribution of all business lines. In more detail:
- The interest income increased by +7.9% to MAD 9,882 Mn (MAD +727 Mn) thanks to a volume effect. This is a steady growth in credits of +8.3%(1) driven by investment loans which increased by +14.4% in Morocco. The net interest margin stabilized at 5.0%(2) ;
- The fees income rised by +3.4% to MAD 3,260 Mn (MAD +108 Mn) after an increase of +15.5% in H1-23. This deceleration would be explained by a high base effect in the first half of 2023 due to large-scale transactions carried out in international capital markets ;
- The income from market activities(3) increases by +69% to MAD 3,881 Mn (MAD +1,582 Mn) and explains almost 2/3 of the growth of the NBI. This performance is mainly due to the profits made on the bond portfolio after the interest rates decrease during H1-24. Also, the appreciation of the Forex activity was driven by the increase in both the number of clients and the volumes of transactions.
Continuous improvement of the “C/I” thanks to the adoption of digital technology
The Group is continuing its cost optimization strategy through the deployment of a cost savings plan based on digital means. Thanks to the growing adoption of digital platforms by customers, the cost-to-income ratio (C/I) maintains a structural downward trend, going from 38.8% in H1-23 to 35.5% in H1-24, i.e. an improvement of 3.3 pts.
Decrease of the CoR thanks to the improvement of Macro indicators
Despite an additional provision of approximately MAD +180 Mn related to the downgrade of Gabon's sovereign rating, the consolidated CoR is slighty decreasing by -3.3% to MAD 2,198 Mn. This change is explained by the improvement of the Bank's risk indicators in terms of the “Non-performing loans ratio, “Watchlist” and “Recovery”. At the same time, the Group benefits from a relative improvement in the macroeconomic environment in most countries of presence. Ultimately, the CoR rate(3) fell by -12 BPS to 103 BPS in H1-24 after a year 2023 marked by a significant provisioning effort related to Egypt and Cameroon.
Steady growth of the earning power, above expectations
The strong growth of the NBI combined with good control of both operational costs and the cost of risk, enable the Group to generate a half-yearly profit of MAD 4,906 Mn, up +35.7%. This is a high achievement rate of 59.1% compared to our annual forecasts.
