...Support Drives Ratings: The Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) assigned by Fitch Ratings to Moroccan banks are driven by support. Sovereign support drives the IDRs of Attijariwafa Bank (AWB) and Banque Marocaine du Commerce Exterieur (BMCE), while institutional support drives the IDRs of Credit Immobilier et Hotelier (CIH) and the National Ratings of Societe Generale Marocaine de Banques (SGMB, 57.4% owned by Societe Generale) and Banque Marocaine pour le Commerce et l'Industrie (BMCI, 66.7% controlled by BNP Paribas). AWB and BMCE are considered domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs) by Fitch. CIH is 65.9% owned by Caisse de Depots et Gestion (CDG), a public-sector investor focused on Morocco's economic development. In our view, state support would flow through to CDG and this would flow through to CIH. SGMB and BMCI are both strategically important to their parent. Speculative Fundamental Credit Quality: The `bb-' Viability Ratings (VRs) assigned to AWB and CIH denote moderate viability....
