BBC reports that Standard Chartered has opened a bank branch in, Baghdad. Opening the branch, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said the move was an "indicator of trust" in Iraq's economy, adding that the UK had supported Iraq "from the beginning". The British ambassador to Iraq, Simon Collis, said the UK was dedicated to setting up […]
By John Lee. Standard Chartered has received approval from the Central Bank of Iraq to open branches, according to a report from The Standard. The London-based bank plans to open three branches in Baghdad and Erbil by the end of 2013 and Basra in 2014. It said its main aim is to meet the increasing […]
By John Lee. UK-based bank Standard Chartered is counting on the assistance of the British government to help it to open branches in Iraq by the end of the year, according to a report from The National. The newspaper says the company plans to open three branches in the next eighteen months, to tap into […]
By John Lee. Standard Chartered bank plans to expand operations in Iraq this year. The firm's regional head, Christos Papadopoulos (pictured), told Reuters in an interview: "The amount of economic activity in Iraq now is substantial. We always wanted to be onshore in Iraq. It was never a question of if but a question of […]
By John Lee. British bank Standard Chartered is to apply to Iraqi regulators for permission to open three business branches in Baghdad, Basra and Erbil. Chief executive of wholesale banking, Mike Rees (pictured), told The Telegraph: "Associated with the name British is trust ... It is a very important brand which I think is underestimated. But […]
The Central Bank of Iraq (ICB) said on Monday that it has begun to pay the small depositors in Warka Ahli Bank for Investment, reports AKnews. Following a financial crisis, the bank was placed under ‘guardianship’ in March. The Deputy governor of the bank, Muzher Mohammed Saleh said: "There is payment for small depositors in […]
Iraqi banker Saad al-Bunia says Warka Bank for Investment and Finance, which was placed in insolvency proceedings by authorities this month, is a victim of its own success, with its growth threatening the near-monopoly of state banks. "They don't want a strong bank to operate and compete with state banks," said British-educated Bunia, a member of […]
Iraq's central bank has reportedly placed private bank Warka Bank under guardianship to supervise it through insolvency. Warka Bank had been in talks with Standard Chartered Plc to sell a stake last year, but they were not successful. According to the report from Reuters, Mudher Kasim, deputy governor of the central Bank of Iraq, said: […]
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). […]
London-based Standard Chartered Bank has been in talks for the past 3-4 months to buy a stake in Warka Bank, one of Iraq's biggest private banks, a central bank official said on Monday. Hassan al-Haidari, a central bank advisor, told Reuters: "They (Standard Chartered) wanted more than 50 percent but they (Warka) wanted (to give) […]
Bloomberg reports that Citigroup, the U.S. bank which earns about a $1 billion in revenue from the Middle East, has hired a former U.S. diplomat to oversee its team in Iraq as the holder of the world’s fourth-biggest oil reserves rebuilds its economy. “We are very optimistic about Iraq over the next three to five […]
The largest ever British trade delegation to visit the Kurdistan Region last week participated in Erbil International Fair. The delegation was lead by Sir Andrew Cahn, the Chief Executive of UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), the British government department that spearheads international trade with the UK. The mission comprised 53 representatives from 39 British companies […]
