Foreign investment in Moroccan mutual funds, known as OPCVM (Organismes de Placement Collectif en Valeurs Mobilières), rose significantly in 2023, totaling 3.5 billion dirhams (MAD), up from 2.5 billion MAD in 2022—a 37.6% increase, according to the Moroccan Capital Market Authority (AMMC). Despite this growth, foreign holdings remain a small portion of the overall net assets in OPCVMs, edging up from 0.51% in 2022 to 0.62% in 2023.
Breaking down these investments by investor type, individuals accounted for nearly 94% of foreign investment in OPCVM securities, up slightly from 92% in 2022. Among these individual investors, Moroccans residing abroad (MRE) held the largest share at 50%, followed by foreign residents at 27.5% and non-resident individuals at 16.1%, making up the majority of foreign capital in Moroccan OPCVMs.
In terms of fund preference, short-term bond funds attracted the largest foreign investment, reaching 1.6 billion MAD in 2023, compared to 947 million MAD in 2022. Money market funds followed, totaling 1 billion MAD, up from 800 million MAD the previous year. Together, these two categories dominated the landscape, with short-term bonds capturing 47% of all foreign investments, up from 38% in 2022. Meanwhile, money market funds saw a slight dip in popularity, declining from 34% to 29% of foreign investment.
Other OPCVM categories experienced shifts as well. Investments in medium- to long-term bond funds inched up from 8% in 2022 to 9% in 2023, reflecting a growing interest in longer-term securities. Conversely, diversified funds saw a decline, dropping from 7% of foreign investment in 2022 to 4% in 2023.
These figures highlight the steady, albeit modest, growth of foreign interest in Morocco’s mutual fund market, particularly among individual investors favoring fixed-income funds. The trends also suggest that as Morocco’s mutual fund landscape evolves, foreign investors are increasingly drawn to low-risk, short-term bonds, positioning these funds as key drivers of foreign capital inflows in the Moroccan financial market.
