Iraq Business News brings you the latest Iraq banking & finance news, with information on developments and opportunities.
Iraq's Ministry of Finance and Central Bank announced on Tuesday that Iraq will provide Islamic banking services in major banks owned by the state, under a plan worth $42 million which will be implemented this month. The Finance Ministry said on its website that Islamic transactions will be facilitated in the Rafidain and Al-Rasheed banks […]
Iraq's Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, has appointed Hamida al-Jaf as head of the state-owned Trade Bank of Iraq, replacing Hussein al-Uzri amid investigations into alleged corruption, the bank’s deputy director general said. “The Trade Bank of Iraq is operating normally and people have confidence in the bank,” Deputy Director General Abdel Hadi Sadeq Abdel Mahdi […]
Iraq has agreed to pay $408 million in cash to Egypt to settle old debts owed by Baghdad from more than two decades ago, a government spokesman said. Reuters reports that the debts date back to a period when United Nations sanctions following the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait blocked the payment of salaries that […]
Following Thursday's raid on the offices of the Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI), CNBC reports that Iraqi authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the head of the bank, which is under investigation for alleged irregularities. An Iraqi government source said Hussein al-Uzri, president and chairman of the bank, had fled to Lebanon. He reportedly […]
By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. Most development agendas for Iraq putatively support entrepreneurship and the need to support private sector development through its focus on the growing number of unemployed youth in the country. UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) recently […]
Iraq's prime minister ordered a judicial investigation on Thursday into one of the country's biggest banks, the Trade Bank of Iraq, saying it was suspected of committing "violations", according to a report from Reuters. The bank's president and chairman, Hussein Al-Uzri, could not be reached for comment. A British adviser to the bank's board, Sir […]
Citigroup and Bank of Baghdad have announced a strategic partnership which offers corporate clients, with major business presence in Iraq, a seamless cash management solution and other relevant banking services. The client offer encompasses account services, domestic and international payments and collections, liquidity management and electronic banking solutions, backed by a comprehensive customer service and […]
The UK's former prime minister, the Rt Hon Sir John Major KG CH, addressed the Kurdistan National Assembly on Sunday 29th May. The full text of his address is provided below: I am immensely grateful to President Barzani for his kind invitation for me to visit Kurdistan. His invitation was issued a long time ago […]
Rabee Securities has announced the opening of a new branch office in Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan. The company statement says that the "city of Erbil is fast becoming a commercial and industrial hub in Iraq. Rabee Securities' Erbil branch will be the first branch of an ISX licensed broker dealer to start operations in this […]
By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. For a long time now, the discussion continues within different circles and corridors in Iraq, on whether microfinance institutions (MFIs) can operate as NGOs and continue providing micro-loans to low-income entrepreneurs who lack access to finance […]
Private banking reform is needed in Iraq, but iPhones may help. Abu Talib Al-Hashimi, chairman of Gulf Commercial Bank, is critical of the state stranglehold on banking in Iraq, reports Aswat Al-Iraq. By holding government deposits at government banks only, "This situation made the private sector banking system paralyzed and lacking its flexibility as private […]
Further to our article on Citigroup's planned expansion into Iraq, Bloomberg News has run a piece on this story. The video includes an interview with Kyle Stelma of Dunia Frontier Consultants: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUEHKUwVIsw
