The Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Al-Alak, announced on Saturday the imminent transformation of banks into smart platforms using artificial intelligence, pointing out that Iraq will witness a comprehensive digital transformation in the financial sector.
Al-Alak said: “Despite the great way that has been made to activate electronic payment methods, which is an essential step in digital transformation, we will put this stage behind our backs soon, because even the current electronic payment methods and tools are being changed and developed very quickly.”
He pointed out that “in the near future we will notice a great difference in the tasks and functions of banks, and we will see many banks change the nature of their work, and there will be a digital financial identity for each citizen through which he can conduct many operations in his accounts or identify his balances or even invest inside and outside Iraq,” stressing that “banks will soon turn into smart platforms that organize financial operations and benefit from technologies and artificial intelligence.”
He added that “this great work is accompanied by the work of the Central Bank, like the rest of the central banks, by thinking about having a digital currency under the supervision of the Central Bank. We are not talking about cryptocurrencies that are outside the framework of central banks, but about a digital currency issued by the Central Bank. This is a great work being worked on in the Central Bank in coordination with specialized organizations and entities internationally and in the Arab world, and directly with the Arab Monetary Fund.”
He continued: “We believe that this trend will be in the near future and will impose itself, and this represents solutions to major economic, financial and social problems, as well as will establish a tight framework for monitoring funds and reducing corruption, money laundering and financing of terrorism, because all financial movements will be within a tight and transparent system that can monitor all financial operations, and at the same time it is easy for its bearers to conduct large-scale operations even in other countries of the world.”
He added: “We expect young people, through the tools and human resources we have, to benefit from these tools. Indeed, we follow that many young people are investing through these wallets and tools in multiple fields outside Iraq, but some need caution and caution because there is a lot of circumvention that is happening, and we are working to prevent the citizen not to fall victim to any fraud.”
