The first milestones of the Banque Populaire system were set up in Morocco in 1926, nearly a century ago. This makes it a historically Moroccan bank. However, as it developed outside the Kingdom's borders, the Banque Populaire became an international Group, and above all an early pan-Africa bank.
The Banque Populaire Group (GBP) did not wait for sub-Sahara Africa to be presented, as it is today, as a promised land for business to rush into it. It has been present in it since the end of the 1980s through its subsidiaries in the Central African Republic and the Republic of Guinea: the Morocco-Central African Banque Populaire (BPMC) and the Morocco-Guinean Banque Populaire (BPMG).
Opening these subsidiaries followed a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Kingdom of Morocco and the authorities of these two countries to support trade and thereby continue the promotion of South-South cooperation.
With the takeover of the Atlantic Bank network in 2012, the Banque Populaire Group strengthened its continental roots by simultaneously gaining a foothold in seven new countries, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. This number rose to 8 countries in 2016 when a branch in Guinea Bissau was opened, allowing the Group to cover all Member States of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).
This strengthened presence in West Africa will be followed by the acquisition of new banks, this time in the Indian Ocean, Madagascar and Mauritius, bringing the number of countries where the Banque Populaire Group is present in Africa to 14: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Central African Republic, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Niger, Madagascar, Morocco, Mauritius, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Togo.
This number is expected to increase to 17 countries by the end of 2019, with advanced discussions underway with the French group Banque Populaire Caisse d'Epargne (BPCE) for acquisitions of its stakes in four banks in Cameroon, Congo, Tunisia and Madagascar.
The Banque Populaire Group's goal is the build the first pan-African, united and locally rooted group.
