Earlier this month, the Iraq Securities Commission (ISC) announced that it would be moving against violations of its Regulation 16, which covers insider trading. Effective July 1, the Commission threatened to bar violators from trading and to cancel their trades. Regulation 16 defines insiders as including members of a company’s board of directors and their […]
The Central Bank of Iraq’s June 30 deadline for private-sector banks to raise capital to IQD 150 billion is fast approaching. Yet of the 21 ISX-listed lenders only three—North Bank (BNOR), United Bank (BUND), and Kurdistan Bank (BKUI)—have reached the target so far. Rabee Securities’ most recent bank sector report found that as of June […]
Last week the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) announced that it was authorizing the two largest state-owned banks, Rafidain Bank and Rashid Bank, to sell US dollars at auction. The CBI’s goal is to reduce the spread between its own auction rate and the unofficial “street” exchange rate, which has recently been as wide as […]
In a post from March of last year, I noted that Iraqi bank stocks did not seem particularly attractive on a valuation basis. PE’s were high and growth was unspectacular. This is no longer the case for the entire sector. While share prices have gone pretty much nowhere, 2011 was a stellar year for earnings […]
2011 was a good year for HSBC’s 70%-owned subsidiary Dar Es Salam Bank (BDSI). Full-year operating and pre-tax profit rose 921% and 877%, respectively, with almost all of this gain occurring in the second half. Year-end deposits and lending were up 70% and 81% over December, 2010. Operating profit came in at IQD 9.4 bn, […]
At the end of last month the Egyptian investment bank EFG-Hermes announced that it would begin offering equity swaps on ISX-listed shares to institutional investors. (See this story.) This new product has the potential to bring about a dramatic increase in foreign participation in the Iraqi stock market. An equity swap allows an investor to […]
So far this year Iraqi stocks have been surprisingly oblivious to three very bullish developments. The Iraq Securities Commission has finally issued its instruction on custodian bank licenses. (See this post for more on custodian banks.) The European Central Bank (ECB) is running its printing presses at maximum capacity. And earnings are up sharply at […]
Foreign net buying of ISX-listed shares has been waning since the middle of last year. After rising from about IQD 900 million for all of 2010, average weekly net buying by non-Iraqis rose to over IQD 4 billion in the first half of last year but then declined to about IQD 2.8 billion in the […]
Last month the Central Bank of Iraq co-hosted a conference with USAID’s Iraq Financial Development Project on “Integrating the Banking and Financial Services Sector in Iraq.” This event, which was held in Istanbul from November 18-19 covered two upcoming changes to the payments system that have the potential to revolutionize Iraq’s banking sector. The first […]
Since 2007, the Rabee Securities RSISX index has ended on a down note every year except 2010. (See chart.) In 2007, 2008, and 2009, the index peaked in July, August, and November, respectively, subsequently falling 27%, 7%, and 9% from those peaks to the respective year-end closes. 2010 was exceptional because the new government was […]
The Warka Bank shareholders meeting originally scheduled for October 6 was held last Wednesday (Oct 12). From what I have heard from various sources, there was some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the bank will be getting an IQD 100 bn loan from the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI). […]
The mobile phone operators are finally getting their IPOs [initial public offerings - A company's first offering of common stock to the public] organized. Recently Asiacell and Zain began conversions to joint stock ownership. Zain is also reported to have engaged Citibank and BNP Paribas to work on valuation. So far as I know, Korek […]
