IRAQ | Banking Sector

[sheytanElKebir]

I started this thread to discuss and post pics of the development of the banking sector in Iraq.

first image. an ATM in the street in Samawa, one of many now dotting the streets of this small southern city.

[sheytanElKebir]

Rafidain bank's head office in baghdad has been renovated externally and has new cladding. Same has happened with the other banks on "bank street" near rashid st, including rasheed bank's head office. It is unfortunate however that the rest of rasheed street is completely dilapidated.

[B-Patriot]

I'm a little confused.. Are ATMs 'new' in Iraq?

[BigDreamer]

they were introduced few years ago. but were usually inside buildings, not on the streets.

As far as I know, there were no ATMs in Iraq before 2003. (unless anyone here knows better)

[sheytanElKebir]

ATMs like many other things came into iraq after 2003.

I hope that clarifies what kind of a backwater it really was (and still is, but getting better).

[elusive]

Rafidain Bank after renovation, they should have gone with shiny glass, i don't like the red at all!

image hosted on flickr

[elusive]

the ATMS springing up in Baghdad:

[elusive]

Al-Rafidain Bank reduces interest rates on loans and bank deposits to encourage investment

Thursday, June 24th 2010 11:48 AM

Baghdad, June 24 (AKnews) – An Iraqi Financial Economist said on Thursday that the Central Bank began to reduce rates on the financial interest by approximately six percent for the loans and four percent for bank deposits to encourage investments in the country, after series of robberies that took place recently on the Iraqi banks including the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI)

The expert, who preferred anonymity, said: "This shift reflects a new policy of the Central Bank that would increase investment by making financers use their money in investment instead of crediting their accounts in the banks."

"The Central Bank has taken a decision in 2007 to lift interest rates to 23% and this rate led the investors not to rush to invest, leading to left it as a result of rising interest rates," noting that "deposit banks in that period (2007) was better than investment and risking the money so deposit became the appropriate choice," he said.

Iraqi citizens have been baptized recently to withdraw their money from Iraqi banks after a series of robberies on the government banks in the country during the past few weeks.

The last attack on the banks was last Sunday when two car bombs exploded in front of the Iraqi Trade Bank in Maamoon area west of Baghdad, killing 26 people and wounding more than 50 others.

This attack was preceded by a coordinated operation on the Central Bank of Iraq, launched by gunmen and bombers in June 13 on the eve of the first session of the Iraqi Parliament at its second session, and 18 people were killed in the attack.

The so-called "Islamic State of Iraq," adopted the two previous attacks, at the time the Iraqi officials and experts believed that targeting banks is intended to destroy the emerging Iraqi economy.

ِAl- Rafidain Bank in Mishkab area south of Basra had been subjected to a robbery operation by an armed group last May and more than five and half dollars were stolen .

Another Bank in Zwiya area in Baghdad was robbed on July 28 of last year, where thieves stole about five million U.S. dollars from the bank.

Sa/SH (AKnews)

[MKTJ]

Originally Posted by elusive

Rafidain Bank after renovation, they should have gone with shiny glass, i don't like the red at all!

You are absolutely right. The red lines look so hideous.

[sheytanElKebir]

Originally Posted by MKTJ

You are absolutely right. The red lines look so hideous.

and i wonder how much they paid for that hideous "renovation".... lets hope bank street gets a big improvement with zaha hadid's new central bank building!

[elusive]

i can't imagine one of Zaha's ingenious designs next to it though haha...i guess by the time its built they'll have to renovate it again

[BigDreamer]

LOOOL so true ! who's the smartass who thought of that design >< what a fail..

[sheytanElKebir]

البريطاني يتطلع لتمويل مشاريع في البنية التحتية وفتح فروع جديدة في العراق ..
10/6/2010


اكد الرئيس التنفيذي للوحدة العراقية لبنك اتش.اس.بي.سي البريطاني ان وحدته تتطلع الى فرص لتمويل مشروعات في البنية الاساسية وفتح مزيد من الفروع تدريجيا في ظل اعادة اعمار العراق.
وقال جيمس هوجن الرئيس التنفيذي لاتش.اس.بي.سي العراق "العراق مقبل على المرحلة التالية من التنمية.. اننا نتخطى الاعتبارات الامنية وندخل الانتعاش الاقتصادي."
وقال هوجن ان اتش.اس.بي.سي عاود دخول العراق في عام 2005 عندما اشترى 70 بالمئة من بنك دار السلام المحلي. ويمتلك اتش.اس.بي.سي 16 فرعا في أنحاء البلاد ويعتزم فتح ما بين أربعة الى ستة فروع اضافية فيما بين الاشهر الاثني عشر الى الثمانية عشر القادمة.
وكان البنك البريطاني يعمل في العراق منذ مطلع القرن الماضي حيث بدأ العمل من خلال بنك فارس الامبراطوري حتى تم تأميم البنوك العراقية في 1964.
ويشمل القطاع المصرفي العراقي سبعة بنوك مملوكة للدولة و36 بنكا خاصا من المتوقع أن تندمج تدريجيا خاصة بعدما طالبت الجهات المنظمة العراقية بأن ترفع كل البنوك الحد الادنى لرؤوس أموالها الى 250 مليار دينار عراقي (213.9 مليون دولار) بحلول عام 2014.
وقال هوجن انه في حالة اتش.اس.بي.سي العراق فان الاشتراطات الجديدة لرأس المال تعني أنه سيجري رفع رأس المال الحالي البالغ 57 مليار دينار بنحو خمسة أمثاله في السنوات الخمس المقبلة.
وقال "حالما تتولى حكومة جديدة فانها ستركز على الارجح على ميزانية العام المقبل وسنرى انفاقا رأسماليا مدعوما بشكل كبير من البنية الاساسية الجديدة مثل مشاريع الطرق والطلب على الاسمنت واقامة بنية أساسية للاتصالات."
وذكر هوجن أن اتش.اس.بي.سي يعمل حاليا مع منظمة دولية لم يسمها تشتري مصانع اسمنت في العراق ويأمل البنك أن يتولى ترتيب هذه الاتفاقات وتمويلها.
ومازالت الحكومة تتولى معظم الانفاق على البنية الاساسية في العراق لكن القطاع الخاص بدأ يظهر ببطء مما يوفر مصادر دخل جديدة محتملة للبنوك العاملة في العراق.
وقال هوجن "نلاحظ ظهور القطاع الخاص بدعم من رجال أعمال عراقيين في مشروعات صغيرة ومتوسطة في شتى المجالات بما في ذلك قطاع السلع الاستهلاكية علاوة على استثمارات الشركات متعددة الجنسيات."
وللبنك حاليا 19 ألف عميل في قطاع التجزئة لكنه يستهدف في الاغلب قطاع الشركات.
وقال هوجن "انها استراتيجية تركز على الشركات المحلية والاجنبية." وأضاف أن اتش.اس.بي.سي يسعى لتقديم المشورة لشركتي اتصالات بشأن ادراج أسهم في البورصة العراقية.

التقرير منقول عن قناة الفيحاء على هذا الرابط : http://www.alfayhaa.tv/rebuild_iraq/37844.html

[sheytanElKebir]

New Private Banks in Iraq
Posted on 29 November 2010. Tags: banking

Iraq’s Central Bank has reportedly granted new banking licences to four new private banks, each with capital of 250 billion Iraqi dinars [$212 million].
This reportedly brings the number of private banks operating in Iraq to 35.
Meanwhile, an economic advisor to the Prime Minister is quoted as saying that a package of incentives is being prepared to encourage small private banks to merge and form larger, stronger entities.

[sheytanElKebir]

The Trade Bank of Iraq plans to expand abroad and almost double of the number of its branches in Iraq next year to benefit from an anticipated oil boom, the bank’s chairman, Hussein al-Uzri, told Reuters.
The state-run bank is also eyeing financing deals in the energy sector as OPEC member Iraq moves ahead with plans to boost oil production through a series of deals with oil majors and rebuilds its battered economy, he said.
“Business is picking up,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of the oil and gas conference in the southern oil hub of Basra.
“We expect that by end of next year we should cover all of Iraq plus we will have three branches outside of Iraq,” he said.
The bank, which has 15 branches in Iraq now, plans to open another eight or nine branches next year and to have a foothold in Beirut, London and Istanbul to feed the appetite of investors eyeing Iraq.
The Trade Bank of Iraq will help the government in financing some of its oil and power infrastructure projects, Uzri said.
“As we see in Basra, security didn’t stop (investors) from coming here,” he said at the bank’s booth, surrounded by other exhibitors including companies such as Weatherford, Schlumberger, Turkey’s TPAO and Malaysia’s Petronas, all of which have won deals in Iraq’s oil sector.
“The drive was initiated by the oil companies. Now we see service companies are also coming, and this will attract hotels, restaurants, housing and office complexes. It’s already started.”
The bank sees net profit increasing by about 25 percent in 2010, driven mainly by corporate and private banking, Uzri said.
It made $305 million in net profit last year.
“In 2010, we were targeting a 20 percent increase (in net profit), I would imagine it would be more, about 25 percent, which is good,” he said.
“We started this year the investment banking, the corporate banking. We expect revenues to expand,” he said.
It also plans to boost its capital from $427 million to $1 billion, he said.

[elusive]

[elusive]

From Baghdad to Basra, this is a country full of potential

Moving to Iraq sounds like a risky business, but HSBC's James Hogan told John Reynolds he found hard-workers building a brighter future

"When I first landed in Baghdad, I remember thinking to myself that it was a very dangerous place and that I was risking my life," says UCD-educated Dubliner James Hogan, who has been running the Iraqi operations of UK banking giant HSBC for the past two years.

He arrived just two months after US troops formally withdrew from patrolling the hot, dusty streets of the war-battered Iraqi capital, which led to an initial frenzy of bombings, shootings, kidnappings and other crimes as gangs and former insurgent groups exploited the situation while Iraqi police and security forces struggled to get a grip on the daily violence.

Amid these surroundings and while investment from consumer, infrastructure, property and oil multinationals have poured billions of dollars into the reconstruction of the country that has seen annual GDP growth of 11%, something as relatively simple as arranging a meeting during his work involving the opening of 16 branches across the country required a lot of advanced planning and orchestration.

"Our security people would have to talk to our customers' security people before I went anywhere to find out about the location and its surroundings so they could assess any potential risks and decide how long it might be safe to conduct a meeting in one place.

"I never reached a point where I could walk around freely on the streets, but during my two years it has become easier to get around by car, and, while there was no room for complacency, we were able to blend in a bit more than we could at first.

"The constant security planning means you lose the spontaneity that you'd normally have walking around any other streets. It was unnatural, but I got used to it and it didn't detract from my work."

Customers and colleagues alike were welcoming, he adds. "Many older Iraqis knew a lot about Ireland, from having friends or relatives who studied at places like the Royal College of Surgeons. The fact that Ireland had no part in the two Gulf Wars meant that I and my colleagues were well regarded."

It's had a fortunate payoff. Although years of economic sanctions before the second Gulf War had left the country's banking system in a primitive state where people preferred to keep their savings in their mattresses, having formed a joint venture in 2005, HSBC and its partner Dar Es Salaam Bank, an African investment bank, have been able to tap into the confidence in banking and the economy that have gradually emerged.

"In terms of basic banking, we doubled our deposit base over the past two years. Very few people in Iraq have a bank account, so there has been a big education process, but people like depositing their funds with a foreign bank.

"I also had to help bring in regulators from outside the country to educate the regulators here, particularly about the infrastructure of banking and the commercial and investment banking side of things.

"We've tried to develop an investment banking capability so that Iraqi companies can access international capital and float on the local stock market or a foreign one.

"We were just awarded quite a large IPO mandate and that's the type of business opportunity that would have been rare before I arrived."

Leaving behind 500 staff who are keen to continue with providing a modern banking service and good customer service, Hogan is now moving to a different role with HSBC and will head its wholesale banking division in Sydney.

"Iraqis are very hard workers and that will bode well for the future. There's the potential for high productivity there for all kinds of businesses. While a lot still needs to be rebuilt and is being rebuilt, all the ingredients are there to build a very successful economy for its 30 million or so people.

"People are now beginning to cycle around Baghdad, and about 10 days ago, on my way back from work, I saw people jogging beside the Tigris River, which certainly wouldn't have happened a few years ago.

"Having travelled around the whole country, from Kurdistan in the north, to Baghdad, and its environs and to Basra and other commercial centres in the south, you become very aware of how much potential there is here and how much there is still to be done. I'll be very sorry to leave. Iraq is one of those places that gets under your skin a little bit," he says.

-Belfast Telegraph

[BigDreamer]

changed the thread name to banking sector .. instead of just ATMs

[elusive]

thanks! i have lots of banking news to post

[IraqiPlan_et]

Iraq Retail Payment Systems Infrastructure


The Central Bank of Iraq wishes to implement a National Retail Payment Systems Infrastructure including a National EFTPOS/ATM Switch and an Iraq Interoperable Mobile Payment System . CBI intends to commence implementation of the national Retail Payments Systems Infrastructure ( RPSI ) through a bidding exercise which will lead to the winning Bidder being granted a License to Build and Operate the RPSI on a vender-financed basis.

Further information:

http://www.cbi.iq/documents/Announce...ender%20EN.pdf