Queen Máxima of the Netherlands landed in Morocco for a three-day visit as the Special Advocate of the United Nations Secretary-General for Inclusive Financing for Development.

On Monday, 20 March, Her Majesty landed in Casablanca, the country’s largest city; she will also visit the capital Rabat before returning to The Hague. 

The theme of her visit will revolve around financial technologies, inclusive green finance and the development of digital payment platforms to promote financial inclusion, according to the Dutch Royal Household. 

The Queen is meeting with members of the public to hear how Morocco’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy is impacting their way of viewing banks and bank accounts, as well as seeing how their businesses were affected by getting access to the banking system, something that has been particularly useful to gain access to post-pandemic loans. 

Equally, she is meeting with government representatives, officials from tech developing companies and other entities involved in closing the gap between finance and the general public. 

Specifically, she is expected to meet with the head of government, Aziz Akhannouch, the Governor of Morocco’s Al-Maghrib Bank, the Minister of Economy and Finance, and the Deputy Minister for Digital Transition and Administrative Reform, among others. 

As for representatives of the tech sector and members of the public, the central topic will be the development of new finance applications, which are designed to be more user-friendly and tailored specifically to the needs of each category of customers. 

This is Queen Máxima’s first visit to Morocco in her UN role, as the country implemented a National Financial Inclusion Strategy in 2019, raising the percentage of adults with a bank account from 29% to 44% in just two years. That 56% of the population who currently doesn’t have a bank account corresponds to roughly 15 million people. 

The goal of Morocco’s NFIS is to have at least 50% of the adult population with a bank account by the end of 2023, which is expected to rise to 75% by the end of 2030.

The Dutch Queen has been working in the field of financial inclusivity ever since she entered the Royal Family – a cause close to her heart, as her academic background is in economy and finance.