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Fitch Affirms BMCE Capital Gestion at 'M2(mor)'

London/Paris - Fitch Ratings has today affirmed BMCE Capital Gestion's (BKG) 'M2(mor)' National Asset Manager rating. The rating applies to BKG's Casablanca-based asset management activities.

The rating reflects BKG's 13-year experience, rigorous investment processes, efficient position-keeping and order management system, as well as tight controls on compliance-related aspects. The rating also takes into account its enhanced technological platform, which allows for a fully automated internal transaction flow from the front to the back offices.

Portfolio management teams have been renewed and strengthened in the past two years, and are well-staffed. However, they still rely on the Chief Executive Officer's experience, who remains highly involved in the investment process. Credit and liquidity risks are part of the portfolio management process and are not actively monitored independently from investment teams.

Fitch will also keep a close watch for any conflict of interest that may arise from BKG being part of BMCE Bank . Operations and valuation activities are efficient and well-controlled, in spite of a lack of automated information feed from/to third parties due to current practices in the Moroccan market.

BKG's 'M2(mor)' rating is based on the following category scores: Company & Staffing: 2.75 Risk Management & Controls: 2.75 Portfolio Management: 2.25 Investment Administration: 2.25 Technology: 2.50

Asset managers under the 'M2' group have high scores in most areas of assessment. Such organisations are generally stable, well-capitalized investment management companies with a track record of profitability. Organisations at this rating level are run by highly experienced, tenured management teams supported by experienced front-, middle- and back-office staff. The organisational infrastructure includes strong risk management and internal control functions, which are integrated in the day-to-day portfolio management processes. Portfolio management processes are consistently applied and supported with frequent investment analysis and monitoring, forming a disciplined approach for making buy, sell or hold decisions.

At this rating level, organisations will have strong investment administration capabilities, as reflected in the level of investor services and the quality of investor reporting. All core processes are supported with integrated technology resources, complemented by good analytical and decision-support tools.

Created in 1995, BKG is a subsidiary of BMCE Bank , the third-largest bank in Morocco, which is 38%-owned by the Moroccan holding company, Finance.com, and 15% by CIC. At end-March 2008, BKG was the third-largest Moroccan asset manager with MAD18.6bn worth of assets (i.e. around EUR1.6bn), managed on behalf of domestic retail clients, corporates and large institutional investors, such as pension funds, banks, foundations and insurance companies. In line with the overall local market, most assets managed by BKG are concentrated in money market and bond products (88%), the remainder being equity and balanced portfolios. In compliance with Moroccan legislation, assets are entirely invested in local markets. BKG employs 25 people, including seven portfolio managers and three financial analysts.

The rating report is available in French on the agency's public website, www.fitchratings.com.

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Note to Editors:
Fitch assigns National Manager Ratings to asset management companies operating in countries where, for some rating criteria, a comparison with international standards is less appropriate, or even sometimes irrelevant. Such criteria are modified or replaced on the basis of local market-specific practices and/or regulatory differences.

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.

For more information, please contact:
Nicolas Beneton
Paris
Tel: +33 1 4429 9273

Keranka Dimitrova
Tel: +33 1 4429 9280

Francoise Alos
Paris
Tel: +33 1 44 29 91 22

Hannah Warrington
London
Tel: +44 (0) 207 417 6298

© Press Release 2008