The latest Iraq financial and banking news including Dinar, Investment Oppportunities, Funds news and more.
By John Lee. The delay in adopting Iraq's federal budget, in large part due to the dispute between Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional Government over oil exports and revenues, has reduced banking activity in the KRG by up to 25%, according to Adham Karim Darwesh. Darwesh, the manager of the Erbil branch of the Central Bank […]
By John Lee. Standard Chartered has announced the appointment of Ahmed Muallah as Managing Director and Head of its Wholesale Banking business in Iraq. Commenting on the appointment, Gavin Wishart, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Iraq said: “This appointment comes as another testament to our long term commitment to Iraq. Standard Chartered is bringing its best international financial business […]
By Mark DeWeaver. Another roller coaster year for the ISX is drawing to a close. By the middle of May, the Rabee Securities RSISX index had fallen 24% from its early October 2011 peak. Since then, the market has staged a dramatic rebound. As of December 8, the index was down just 3% from the […]
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki endorses and supports event. High-level delegation from several ministries and headed by deputy prime minister. Financing of Iraq’s reconstruction to be discussed with international banks and investors. Iraq is to welcome foreign investors at a major London convention and offer a stake in the country’s economic and financial future. The major […]
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 […]
Advertising Feature Iraq Business News is delighted to bring you the latest Iraq Market Tracker report from Dunia Frontier Consultants. The market tracker highlights the activities and market performance of a basket of publicly traded firms who derive a significant percentage of their revenues from operations in Iraq, but are traded on foreign exchanges: a […]
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 […]
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 […]
Annual inflation in Iraq is now 6.3%, according to government figures. It is likely this is due to rising commodity prices. Government receipts for oil in the last quarter were up 19% to US$20bn, the highest since before the Iraq War began. The dinar was unchanged versus the dollar during the quarter. The International Monetary […]
By T. Keyzom Ngodup, co-founder and Executive Director at Ideas sYnergy, an Iraq based private sector development consulting company. IRAQ INSIGHTS, published by Ideas sYnergy, aims to consolidate and build intellectual capital on private sector development, empowering stakeholders to address issues of access and structural reforms on a diverse range of topics impacting inclusive economic […]
Recently ISX CEO Taha Ahmed Abdul Salam told reporters that foreigners now hold 19% of ISX-listed shares. (See this link.) This seems like a big percentage but in fact reveals that foreign institutional participation in the market remains quite limited. As of the end of last month, strategic shareholders in the eight foreign-invested banks held […]
