Jointly owned by AttijariWafa Bank (holding 51%) and CA Consumer finance (49%) and active in its home market since 1988, Wafasalaf is Morocco’s leader in providing consumer credit. Wafasalaf is a reference in Morocco for modernising financial structures, streamlining the retail sector, raising quality of life and above all, galvanising the economy.

Wafasalaf serves more than 1 million customers via 1,500 sales points throughout the country with assets of 26bn dirhams ($2.9 bn) and a market share of 33%.

Over the last 25 years, Wafasalaf has underpinned the development of several sectors, most notably the automotive industry – one in five new vehicles in Morocco is financed by Wafasalaf –and of household appliances, through its support to the big names in retailing.

Wafasalaf is also active in the B2B market by providing its expertise in sales to allied financial institutions and companies in other sectors.

Improving quality of life

Over the years Wafasalaf has been involved in many projects and initiatives to raise standards of living in Morocco. Since 1988, Wafasalaf has made credit accessible to more and more segments of the population: salaried employees, workers, civil servants, craftsmen, shopkeepers,the self-employed and pensioners. It has constantly developed its range of offers to finance a variety of everyday projects: household goods and furnishings, home improvements, vehicle purchasing, home purchase deposits and travel, not forgetting academic support and healthcare expenses or other forms of support to families.

Wafasalaf has set itself apart by taking on the role of an adviser to help customers in difficulty. An initiative to help customers with cashflow problems was set up in 2012 offering solutions such as deferment of payments or consolidated or restructured loans. This approach helped Wafasalaf to reach a client approval rate of 95%.

From 2015 to 2017, Wafasalaf has set itself a target to finance 500,000 projects: 80,000 vehicle purchases; 150,000 household appliances and 370,000 personal ventures.

Meeting new consumer trends

By launching Morocco’s first website in the financial services sector, Wafasalaf is using its digital platform to get closer to its customers. The first to offer online loan facilities, Wafasalaf’s website allows a customer to begin a loan application, accompany those looking for financing solutions and helping customers to monitor their loans. The mobile version of the website has been available since 2014 to the nation’s five million smartphone users. Wafasalaf presence on social media is to align itself with younger users and associated brands – 8% of Wafasalaf’s activity is online.

Wafasalaf is now allied with several big national distribution brands, such as Marjane (household appliances), Aksal (luxury and retail) or Auto Hall (Ford importer) to offer their customers co-branded credit solutions. Finally in 2017, Wafasalaf  created a Consumer Observatory, which is unique in Morocco. The aim of this  initiative is to gain consumer insight, through understanding the sociological and behavioural trends driving change in Morocco. The results of studies conducted by the observatory are made public, made available to researchers and used by Wafasalaf and its partners to create better products and services.

Innovation for business

In 2002,Wafasalaf began managing consumer credit activities for partner financial institutions. Wafasalaf also uses its knowhow to accompany development across Africa with the support of the AttijariWafa Bank group.

In 2014, Wafasalaf created  the Recouv’com brand through which it proposes debt-collecting services and credit ratings of customers for companies such as telecom operators.

A policy of engagement

On a social level and beyond the investments made in Wafasalaf’s human capital, the company has made a commitment to train, mobilise, and develop the skills of the young people in Morocco, under the banner, ‘Promoting Excellence Among the Youth’. Each year, 20% of Wafasalaf’s teams provide more than 1,500 hours of training and assistance with schoolwork in partnership with associations working with secondary and primary school children. In addition, an agreement has been concluded with the Aïn Sebâa faculty in Casablanca to offer internships to its students. Wafasalaf is also committed to environmental sustainability, through measures including switching to a paperless system, cutting down on travel and an accelerating its digital strategy. Wafasalaf adheres to the national energy strategy by putting innovative products on the market. The new Salaf Ecolo range began with the launch of products to finance ecological vehicles and solar panels with the aim of contributing to citizen awareness and making a firm commitment to green energy.

Since 2014, Wafasalaf has made public its engagements towards its stakeholders including customers and partners. A charter lays out the principles of this system: transparency, reactivity and advice. To meet these requirements Wafasalaf sets itself the highest standards and is the first credit company to commit itself to new regulations strengthening consumer rights.

All Wafasalaf staff are signatories of the Code of Good Conduct of the parent company, Attijariwafa Bank, which binds them to respect rules of behaviour and ethics, observing confidentiality, respect of procedures, transparency, and rules on conflict of interests. Rules are adhered to pre-empt and detect risks linked to money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

For 25 years, Wafasalaf ‘Dima Maak’ – or ‘Alongside’ – has been serving national socio-economic development by raising standards of living and developing a regulatory framework. The initiative meets these challenges throughout Morocco by staying true to the company’s values: team spirit, ethics and a commitment to innovation.

Further information
www.wafasalaf.ma