"THE BANKING REFORM HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL FOR THE ECONOMIC REFORM... THIS IS THE REPORT" BY FRANK26, 18 SEPT

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FRANK26: "THE BANKING REFORM HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL FOR THE ECONOMIC REFORM... THIS IS THE REPORT"...........F26

Al-Nusairi identifies the challenges facing Iraqi private banks and opportunities for banking reform

9/17/2024

 

Baghdad
 

 Iraqi private banks suffer from many challenges and work obstacles, and face wide crises and risks due to economic instability due to the challenges of instability in the financial and monetary system, shortcomings in the investment environment, and deficits in the balance of payments and trade balance.

Iraq has eight government banks, and the structure of the Iraqi private banking sector consists of 32 Islamic banks and 28 commercial banks. 

 

Advisor to the Iraqi Private Banks Association, Samir Al-Nusairi, told Al-Eqtisad News, "The number of private bank branches is about 500 branches inside and outside Iraq, and they have expanded and developed technically according to modern electronic banking systems."

Al-Nusairi pointed out that the private banking sector in Iraq faces operational challenges in addition to the above, most notably the US sanctions and restrictions imposed on 51% of the total private banking sector in Iraq and the prevention of 28 of them from using the US dollar in banking transactions, which affected their local and international activities and harmed the national economy.

He explained that the most important obstacles facing banks currently are technical, financial and administrative, especially in the procedures, instructions and decisions of digital transformation, which requires providing full support for this transformation process and using electronic payment tools in government, mixed and private institutions, and setting a time frame for the complete transition from the use of paper money to electronic payment.

He added that the private banking sector suffers from the differentiation between it and the government banking sector, as government banks account for 87% of total deposits and 78% of total assets, and it also suffers from weak activity and low liquidity, deposits, revenues and profitability in most banks, especially the 32 banks that have been subject to sanctions and restrictions, in addition to the decline in the shares of most banks in the trading market in the Iraq Stock Exchange.

 

Al-Nusairi added that private banks also suffer from double taxation, as the Tax Department in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, for example, imposes on the branches of private banks in the region (their number exceeds 70 branches) to pay the annual tax, while these banks, according to the current Federal Tax Authority Law, pay the same tax centrally in Baghdad.

 

Al-Nusairi stressed the necessity for the Iraqi Council of Ministers to resolve the issue in the region and put an end to double taxation, and for tax collection to be centralized according to the law and for the audited final accounts submitted to the General Tax Authority to be adopted as a basis for tax accounting.

 

The advisor to the Iraqi Private Banks Association called for "implementing the seven decisions issued on 4/4/2024 in implementation of the directives of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, which are related to supporting our private banks, which confirm the government's vision in its governmental program for financial and banking reform, as well as activating and accelerating the implementation of the agreements that were reached in the rounds of negotiations between the Central Bank and the US Treasury in Washington and Baghdad to lift US restrictions on the use of the US dollar."

 

He explained that "the Prime Minister's decisions supporting private banks outlined the executive procedures for comprehensive reform of the banking sector, which constitutes the basis and real beginning of the accomplished economic reform. These decisions included the following: 

1- Preventing monopoly in banking services.

2- Activating the Central Bank’s financing initiatives.

3- Increasing cooperation between private banks and the Central Bank in discussing decision-making related to supporting and developing banking work.

4- Determining the contribution of foreign capital to Iraqi banks.

5- Participation of government institutions and financing funds with private banks and expansion by opening branches in countries. 

Other.

6- Support from the government and the Central Bank to private banks in foreign institutions and banks.

7- Increasing reliance on private banks by the Iraqi state and activating the deposit of government deposits and government bank deposits with private banks.

 

Al-Nusairi stressed that implementing the decisions, which are practical applications to encourage private banks to develop their internal and external banking operations, will contribute to economic reform, pointing out “the importance of the Central Bank accelerating the procedures to rehabilitate and restructure these banks, as well as the necessity for the international auditing company to complete its agreed-upon work in order to lift the imposed restrictions and limitations.”

 

He concluded his speech by saying: "This file is certainly the focus of the government's interests, the Central Bank, the Iraqi Private Banks Association, and the banking sector in general."

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