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Morocco FX Analytics · FX access cost

The cost of accessing foreign currency

How much does foreign exchange cost? At the counter: banknote premium and buy-sell spread. At the bank: FX margin on international transfers.

Latest BAM fixing · August 4, 2026 Source · Bank Al-Maghrib — banknotesUnit · MAD per 1 unit

At the counter: banknotes

Banknote rates by currency — buy / sell

Retail (cash) rates · buy / sell · frozen at the selected date

Cash exchange premium (cash vs transfer)

(banknote sell rate − reference rate) / reference rate · in %

drives both trend charts

Banknote spread trend (sell − buy)

as % of the rate · the wider the spread, the more expensive cash exchange is

At the bank: FX margin

Updated: August 11, 20262 banks · 1 payment institution · 7 currencies

The FX margin is the spread between the rate charged by an intermediary (bank or payment institution) and the reference rate set daily by Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM). It reflects the cost of foreign exchange for the end customer. A wider margin means a higher cost; a tighter margin means more competition. Two channels are compared: banknotes (cash exchange, wider margins) and transfers (interbank, tighter margins). The margin is computed as: (bank mid − BAM mid) / BAM mid × 100.

Latest rates — bank vs BAM

Latest available rates by currency · margin = bank mid spread vs BAM mid

Spread between banks — what it means in practice

Margin difference between banks on banknotes. Indicative amount on a 10,000-unit transaction.

The spread is real but modest in absolute value. On EUR 10,000 exchanged, the difference between the two banks amounts to a few dozen dirhams — a cost that may matter for frequent travelers or businesses, but is marginal on a one-off transaction.

Bid-ask spread by bank and currency

Banknotes — spread = (sell − buy) / buy. Comparison between banks.

The wider the spread, the higher the bank's margin on that currency.

Bank margin vs BAM over time

Bank mid (transfers) vs BAM reference rate · one line per bank

Margin = (bank transfer mid − BAM mid) / BAM mid × 100. A positive figure means the bank sells higher / buys lower than the official rate. The margin varies by currency and over time.

Sources: Attijariwafa Bank, Banque Populaire, Cashplus · Bank Al-Maghrib (reference rate)