Morocco BCP's 2012 profit up 5.6pc

RABAT: Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) , one of Morocco's three biggest lenders, said on Wednesday that its net profit grew 5.6 percent to 3.21 billion dirhams ($384 million) in 2012.

Deposits increased 10 percent to 201.9 billion dirhams which represented a 27.9 percent market share, the bank added in a statement.

BCP, in which the government is a shareholder, collected 74.2 billion dirhams of remittances from Moroccans living abroad during the year a 4.5 percent increase although total transfers by migrant workers to the country fell 4 percent.

The bank said it set aside an additional 300 million dirhams in provisions for non-performing loans at the end of December, so that its NPLs were 77 percent covered compared to 63 percent in 2011.

Net profit attributable to shareholders rose 2.7 percent to 1.9 billion dirhams.

Last October, credit rating agency Standard & Poor's revised its outlook for the bank to negative from stable, after taking the same decision for Morocco's sovereign outlook.