Automation and strong internet...a necessity for reforming the banking system, 25 MARCH

  Automation and strong internet...a necessity for reforming the banking system

3/24/2024   Baghdad: Hoda Al-Azzawi

The Finance Committee of the House of Representatives is conducting a very important investigation into the presence of fraudulent deductions from retirees’ salaries by informal associations, while experts in finance and economics unanimously agree on the necessity of a rapid move towards automating banking operations and preparing their infrastructure in terms of strengthening the global network “the Internet.” “As a necessity to reform the banking system.

The Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Finance Committee for the fourth session, Dr. Ahmed Al-Saffar, in an interview with Al-Sabah, praised “the steps of the Parliamentary Finance Committee to follow up and monitor the banking system and electronic dealings,” and added, “But I believe that the issue needs other steps to prepare the infrastructure and emphasize restoring confidence.” Citizen in Iraqi banks.

He stressed that "the banking sector in general needs radical reform and restructuring of the large number of unnecessary private banks that are not doing their proper banking work," calling for "keeping the real banks that are doing their work and supporting them and providing facilities to them."

He pointed out that "the other point is the emphasis on the issue of the Internet, because electronic dealing is completely linked to the presence of a strong Internet in order for electronic dealing to take place," stressing that "the citizen - until now - does not trust putting his money in banks, and the process needs to build confidence among the citizen and those... Then raise awareness and work to achieve or implement financial inclusion for the citizen by delivering banking services easily to him, starting with the category of employees, retirees, care salary holders, or others, and then moving to other categories.”

He stressed that "the Financial Committee's follow-up of violations and transgressions to steal retirees' funds is a very important step."

As for the expert in the field of anti-corruption, Saeed Yassin Moussa, he said in an interview with “Al-Sabah”: “The system for paying the salaries of employees and retirees needs periodic review, and one of the best ways is to adopt automation and use smart cards to pay and settle salaries, fees, and other financial activities, including commercial ones.” Pointing out that “forgery is expected in paper processes before salaries enter the electronic system, and an example of this is what happened in Anbar, the Martyrs Foundation there, and the Retirement Authority departments in the governorates.”

He explained, “The National Retirement Authority has an excellent experience in preparing the infrastructure for the retirement referral system, starting electronically from institutions through the presence of the Authority’s teams in ministries and public institutions in preparing retirement transactions for employees, with the employee referred for retirement being handed a review card to complete the retirement transaction at the Retirement Authority.” the public".

Moussa stated, “In these aforementioned steps, the possibility of forgery operations is very narrow and even non-existent, but the defect lies in the transactions of the wounded and martyrs through the forgery operations that were discovered by the Integrity Commission in cooperation with the Public Retirement Service, and I deem it necessary to subject all those who They were referred to retirement from this category for review and scrutiny, knowing that forgery operations are carried out through multiple mafias with the complicity of some employees in the relevant departments and forging the signatures of other employees.”

He added, "The process of fraud on smart cards remains. Here, it is necessary to protect the electronic system from hacking, review the banking system, and preserve the confidentiality of the retiree (the private code), while subjecting the relevant associations to periodic auditing, and deterring those who attempt to seize the funds of employees and retirees in loan and advance operations." And selling in installments.”

Last week, the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Atwan Al-Atwani, hosted, along with the committee members, the Director General of Rafidain Bank, Ali Karim, and the Managing Director of the International Smart Card Company to discuss electronic transactions.
A statement from the committee indicated that “the meeting discussed the issue of dealing with (unlicensed) associations, installment sales operations, and receiving advances, and the emphasis on preventing any tampering in the sales process, verifying the information of the advance applicant, and protecting customers’ money from fraud.”  LINK