Parliamentary Finance calls on banks to open branches outside Iraq, 28 FEB

 Parliamentary Finance calls on banks to open branches outside Iraq

 The head of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Atwan Al-Atwani, presented eight proposals to develop banking services for Iraqi banks, while calling on banks to open branches outside Iraq and finance investment opportunities.

Al-Atwani said, during the “Finance and Banking Services” conference, which was attended by the “Al-Iqtisad News” correspondent, “We must turn to the banking sector, to address the problems of the Iraqi economy, by financing productive projects and using financial tools to finance the budget deficit.”

Al-Atwani stressed the need for banks to finance investment opportunities, which contributes to the growth of the economy and turns them into indispensable institutions.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Finance Committee warned that Iraqi banks have a long history and a prominent position, but they were subjected to the wrong policies of the previous regime, which led to their curtailment.

Al-Atwani proposed 8 points for developing banking work, which are:
1- Providing banking institutions with efficient financial and technical staff, and ensuring the development and qualification of their tools and capabilities by involving them in training courses outside Iraq on modern methods of banking, and completing banking transactions using modern methods.

2- Equipping banks and banks with modern, advanced systems in all financial fields and activities and introducing the ATM service to all banks.

3- Establish quality measurement centers in all banks and activate their role by receiving development ideas and visions while honoring those with ideas that prove successful in practical fields.

4- Opening horizons for cooperation and coordination between Arab and international banks and institutions; For the purpose of benefiting from the experiences of those financial institutions that preceded us in development in order to achieve a qualitative shift in Iraqi banks and reduce the time factor to ensure that we join the ranks of the advanced in the banking industry.

5- Encouraging scientific studies and research aimed at developing outstanding performance in our financial institutions, and ensuring the translation of those studies and research from a theoretical reality into a tangible practical reality that reflects positively on the economic level.

6- Study the possibility of opening new branches of local banks outside Iraq for the purpose of expanding the circle of banking activity, providing the best services and attracting more customers to these banks.

7- Approving the basic principles for using interest, to ensure an increase in deposits, ensuring that the process is safe from counterfeiting and addressing issues related to money laundering.

8- It is necessary to point out the efforts of the legislative and executive authorities at the present time in developing the financial system and banking institutions through their efforts to complete and approve the relevant laws, which have reached the final stages, which are:

A - The draft Securities and Commodities Law, which seeks to regulate financial markets and control trading operations in a way that enhances the economic process.

B- The draft law on the Center for Banking Studies, which aims to scientifically develop banking work and raise the level of professional performance of the banking system.

T- The draft Islamic investment sukuk law, which aims to create and diversify investment tools in the Iraqi financial market  link