Moroccan businessman Moulay Hafid Elalamy launches family-office arm from former SocGen bank to manage and transfer wealthy clients’ fortunes

Moroccan businessman Moulay Hafid Elalamy is targeting wealthy individuals and business-owning families through a new private-banking and family-office operation built inside the former Société Générale Morocco.

• Saham Bank has launched a private-banking and family-office unit for wealthy clients.
• The service covers investment, asset structuring, succession and intergenerational wealth transfer.
• Moulay Hafid Elalamy acquired the former Société Générale Morocco in a wider $800 million transaction.
• The bank has not disclosed its minimum entry requirement, target assets or expected client numbers.

Saham Bank launched the unit on 22 October as part of its transformation following Elalamy’s acquisition of the century-old Moroccan lender.

The new operation, named Saham Bank, Private Banking & Family Office, will advise clients on investments, asset structuring, wealth preservation and succession.

It will also assist wealthy families in transferring businesses and other assets to younger generations, an increasingly important service as many of Morocco’s family-controlled companies prepare for leadership transitions.

Each client will be assigned a private banker who can draw on specialists in investment strategy, wealth engineering, asset structuring and inheritance planning.

Médias24 reported⁠ that the unit will also provide a dedicated mobile application containing a consolidated wealth dashboard, online stock trading and an artificial-intelligence assistant.

From French subsidiary to Moroccan-owned bank

Saham Bank was formerly Société Générale Marocaine de Banques, one of the French banking group’s oldest operations outside Europe.

Elalamy’s Saham Group agreed in April 2024 to acquire Société Générale’s 57.67% holding in the Moroccan bank and its interests in insurer La Marocaine Vie.

The overall transaction was valued at approximately $800 million (€745 million) and was completed in December 2024.

Importantly, the $800 million price covered both the controlling bank stake and the insurance business. It should not be described as the purchase price for Saham Bank alone.

Société Générale said the disposal formed part of its plan to simplify its operations and strengthen capital. Saham took over the businesses, client portfolios and employees covered by the transaction.

The bank adopted the Saham Bank name in June 2025, replacing a French identity dating back to 1913 with a Moroccan-controlled financial-services brand.

It now operates a network of approximately 278 branches, 13 subsidiaries and more than 3,000 employees.

Elalamy moves deeper into wealth management

Elalamy built Saham into one of Morocco’s best-known business groups, initially through insurance before expanding into outsourcing, healthcare, education, property and financial services.

The private-banking launch extends that strategy into managing the fortunes created by Morocco’s entrepreneurs, wealthy families and senior corporate executives.

Unlike conventional retail banking, family-office services can cover a family’s entire financial structure, including companies, property, investments, inheritance planning and the transfer of control between generations.

Salima Benhima, who leads the new division, said the bank intends to combine personalised relationships, investment advice and technology to serve current wealth-management needs and the ambitions of future generations.

Saham Bank has not disclosed the minimum wealth required to qualify for the service. It has also not revealed its target number of clients, expected assets under management or the fees it will charge.