Invisible Infrastructure Underpinning Morocco's World Cup Development Drive

As Morocco gets ready to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, headlines laud the continent's first super-speed train network and the biggest stadiums known to man. But away from the cranes and crowds, a quieter transformation is taking shape—one that may ultimately have even greater consequences for Morocco’s economic trajectory. A vastly expanding infrastructure is evolving not in steel and concrete, but in code, clearinghouses, and capital flows.

Central to this expansion is the Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE), which is emerging as both a barometer and a driver of Morocco's modernisation ambitions. By introducing derivatives trading—financial instruments long associated with developed markets—Morocco is not only deepening its capital markets but aligning its financial development with the demands of a fast-evolving national agenda.

The new derivatives platform, initially offering equity index futures based on the benchmark MASI 20, is a landmark step. It reflects both growing investor sophistication and a strategic vision to enhance Morocco’s market appeal to global institutional capital. The MASI 20, which captures around 78% of the market's capitalisation and more than 84% of trading volume, provides a strong base for the new instrument. The contract, which was officially approved by the country’s capital markets regulator, the AMMC, on May 6, marks the beginning of a broader rollout that will include interest rate futures, single-stock futures, and equity options. Through this phased approach, the CSE is cultivating a full ecosystem of risk management and investment tools to boost liquidity and encourage long-term investment.

This isn’t happening in a vacuum. The past 18 months have been transformative for Morocco’s markets. Average daily trading volumes jumped 70% during 2024 to $37.5 million, while total market capitalisation has ballooned from $64.6 billion to $95.5 billion at the end of March. These gains reflect in part a surge in orders from individual investors, especially in Morocco’s global diaspora, reflected in a string of heavily oversubscribed IPOs. Spurred on by easier digital access and simplified regulation, even this dramatic surge still leaves the vast majority of people uninvested. Domestic participation remains under 1% of the population—compared to nearly 60% of adults who own stocks in the U.S.—highlighting significant scope for future growth as financial literacy and access improve.

Momentum Building

Furthering this momentum from individual investors, derivatives add a new layer of interest for pension funds, insurance companies and other institutions. The sense of a deepening potential was clear at the recent “Morocco Capital Markets Days” in London, where policymakers, investors, and financial leaders gathered to discuss the market’s outlook. The CSE’s report for the event, After a Record Year, Emerging Markets Momentum Is Building, details a methodical strategy to boost investor engagement and, ultimately, position the country for inclusion in the massively followed MSCI Emerging Market Index.

Bloomberg News, reporting on the event, noted that Morocco’s advance has already pushed it to the top weighting in the MSCI Frontier Market Index after Vietnam. Morocco’s index has gained 36% in dollar terms this year, compared to 8% on average for frontier markets, according to the report by Bloomberg’s Selcuk Gokoluk and Jorgelina Do Rosario.

Re-classification to emerging market status would open the door to billions of dollars in institutional investment flows, bringing new depth and visibility to the Moroccan market. To meet the criteria, Morocco has been gradually reforming its regulatory frameworks to improve investor accessibility, including expanding availability of financial and legal information in English, easing currency restrictions, and improving the efficiency of settlement and trading systems.

The introduction of a central counterparty (CCP), a cornerstone of risk mitigation in developed markets, is a key enabler in this respect by guaranteeing every derivatives trade, even in the event of default. Backed by Bank Al-Maghrib—Morocco’s central bank—and supervised by the AMMC, the CCP and derivatives market are jointly regulated by both institutions through a joint committee, known as ICMAT. As a clearinghouse, the CCP also handles daily margin calls, settlement, and risk buffers—critical tools to ensure market stability and investor trust.

In tandem, the CSE will shift to a holding company structure to help improve operational efficiency and spur product innovation by consolidating all the exchange’s trading, clearing, and post-trade operations under a single governance umbrella. It also gives the CSE the structural flexibility to build joint ventures and strategic alliances to broaden its reach across the region and into new asset classes.

Real-World Impact

Nothing illustrates the real-world stakes of these capital market reforms better than the 2024 IPO of CMGP Group. This agribusiness company—specialising in irrigation infrastructure critical to food security and climate resilience—raised $114 million in an offering that was oversubscribed 37 times. More than half the investors were individuals, showing how retail capital is already funding strategic national priorities. With water management an increasingly urgent challenge across the region, the CMGP listing is a case study in how Morocco’s capital markets are able to channel investment into transformative infrastructure.

At the heart of this transformation is Morocco’s collective vision for the 2030 FIFA World Cup. Even the biggest football fans view the event as much more than a sporting spectacle. A major catalyst for long-term economic development, the government has earmarked more than $23 billion for World Cup-related development projects, spanning transport infrastructure, tourism assets, urban renewal, and public services. Over $1 billion is being invested in highway infrastructure alone–improving access to Casablanca’s Grand Stadium but also aiding much broader connectivity.

Morocco’s modernised stock exchange serves as a key funding conduit for these and other initiatives. By deepening the capital market and introducing new hedging tools, Morocco is laying the groundwork for infrastructure financing models that go beyond the usual public debt funding—creating scope for project finance, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and structured finance instruments. With the World Cup expected to drive a broader flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in one of North Africa’s more stable and relatively open economies, Casablanca is being recast as a regional capital of investment innovation.

Beyond 2030

While the 2030 World Cup serves as a visible and urgent milestone, Morocco’s market reforms have a much longer horizon in sight. The government’s broader economic strategy—encompassing the Digital Morocco 2030 initiative, the Green Generation agriculture program, and industrial development plans—will require deep pools of capital, efficient risk transfer mechanisms, and transparent governance. The CSE is being positioned as a key institutional platform supporting this transformation.

Recent years have shown how critical financial infrastructure can be for economic resilience. Amidst global supply chain disruptions, trade wars, and energy price shocks, countries with well-developed capital markets have been better able to attract counter-cyclical investment and cushion fiscal pressures. Morocco is seeking to emulate this model through prudent macroeconomic management, a stable currency, and growing financial depth.

Derivatives are being introduced at a moment when the dirham is gaining greater flexibility. The long-anticipated foreign exchange liberalisation process is now under way, with the central bank allowing wider trading bands and preparing for a more market-based exchange rate system. This shift, combined with interest rate derivatives and foreign-exchange hedging instruments, will empower Moroccan exporters, importers and investors to better manage risk and plan for growth.

Organic Link

Morocco’s path could become a blueprint for other frontier markets. For decades, Africa's exchanges have been stymied by low liquidity, limited product diversity, and investor mistrust. By contrast, Morocco is showing what is possible when financial reform is driven with discipline, long-term vision, and institutional cohesion.

At the policy level, coordination between the CSE, AMMC, Bank Al-Maghrib, and the Ministry of Finance has proven crucial. This inter-agency collaboration has ensured that the market’s evolution isn’t derailed by regulatory uncertainty or fragmented oversight. At the operational level, the CSE’s efforts to educate investors—through simulations, roadshows, and onboarding workshops—are helping to build a broader culture of financial participation. These efforts will be especially vital as the exchange begins to introduce more complex instruments.

One of the most promising growth engines is retail participation, particularly from tech-savvy youth and the Moroccan diaspora. Digital trading platforms, mobile-first brokerages, and simplified onboarding have all contributed to tripling the number of daily transactions since 2020. The diaspora, already heavily involved in IPOs like CMGP Group’s 2024 listing, is likely to become an even greater driver of capital inflows as confidence builds.

According to a Reuters report on the launch of derivatives, the CSE is working to attract more domestic investors by increasing local familiarity with the exchange. Foreigners currently account for about 30% of the CSE's investors, according to the report by Libby George. Next, the CSE's target is to create an "organic link" between Morocco's two biggest pools of liquidity - the exchange and the government bond market. "We want to move into derivatives for interest rates in a big way, because that will connect the government bond market... with the stock market...and create some really interesting cross asset plays," exchange CEO Tarik Senhaji told Reuters in an interview.

Quiet Wake-Up

In many ways, the Casablanca Stock Exchange reflects Morocco’s broader economic journey: fast-moving, reform-driven, and determinedly ambitious. From a relatively sleepy bourse a decade ago, it is fast becoming a key lever of national development—a place where the next phases of Morocco’s growth will be priced, hedged, and financed.

The derivatives market, far from being an elitist niche, is a foundational element of that vision. It brings transparency, tools for stability, and the kind of credibility needed to draw serious capital.

Come 2030, when the world tunes in to the roar of the crowds at Morocco's mega-stadiums, Casablanca’s markets will be humming with the energy of a country investing in its future.

*Gavin Serkin is the author of Frontier: Exploring the Top Ten Emerging Markets of Tomorrow, and a Journalist and Consultant on emerging & frontier markets, with particular focus on Africa and the Middle East