Parliamentary Finance presents 7 proposals for the development of the Iraqi banking system
Mawazine News – Baghdad
The Finance Committee in the House of Representatives announced today, Wednesday, the proximity of three of its final stages of legislation to develop the financial system and banking institutions in Iraq, while it submitted 7 proposals for the development of the Iraqi banking system.
The Chairman of the Committee, Atwan Al-Atwan, said during the annual conference on Finance and Banking Services, which was held on the grounds of the Baghdad International Fair, “the conference is an important opportunity to discuss files and issues of high importance, and to hold future financial and economic partnerships between Iraqi banks and companies with their counterparts in neighboring countries and the world.”
He added, “The banking system is one of the main tools for the process of economic growth of any country, given its effective role in stabilizing the financial system in general and achieving growth in particular, by financing productive projects as a link between investors and depositors.”
He continued, “As well as by transferring money from people who own it and do not have an opportunity to the people who need it and have investment opportunities, thus contributing effectively to raising the level of economic activity, achieving economic growth and easing and addressing economic problems, until banks have become indispensable institutions in any economic system.”
He pointed out that “the Iraqi economy suffers from many problems, so it is necessary to go to the banking sector, to achieve economic growth of productive projects in the private sector, in order to alleviate and address economic problems, especially the problem of financial deficit in the budget, through the use of financial tools in order to achieve economic and social goals.”
He pointed out that “local public and private banks have a long history and a prestigious position, but unfortunately, during the era of the early regime, these financial institutions were subjected to a decline in their capabilities, due to the wrong policies that negatively affected the level of their services, and their interruption from the progress of the global banking industry.”
He went on to say: “Wars and siege are the hanger on which the wrongding regime has suspended its mistakes for the purpose of justifying them, which put our local banks in complete isolation from openness and cooperation with Arab and foreign banks.”
Al-Atwani explained that “the goal we seek today is how we can achieve a qualitative leap in the development of our banking services, in order to ensure that it is caught up with developed countries in this field,” pointing out that “this mission requires a high national effort from our concerned institutions, by the relevant authorities and open to external banking developments.”
Al-Atwani presented a number of development proposals, which are:
First: Providing the banking institution with efficient financial and technical staff and ensuring the development of its skills and capabilities by involving them in training courses outside Iraq and training it on modern methods of banking dealing and completing banking transactions in modern ways while training them on the use of advanced technical devices.
Second: Equipping banks and banks with advanced modern devices in all fields and financial activities, and introducing an ATM service in all branches to ensure disbursement with ease and ease for all account holders.
Third: Establishing quality measurement centers in all banks and activating their role in receiving development ideas and opinions, while honoring the owners of those ideas that are proven in the practical fields and their results reflected positively on the development of the performance of banks in order to evaluate the innovators and urge them to present other creative ideas that achieve a comprehensive risevival in all banks and refineries.
Fourth: Opening the horizons of cooperation and coordination between Arab and international banks and banks, for the purpose of benefiting from the experiences of those financial institutions that preceded us in developing, achieving qualitative leaps in the performance of our banks and reducing the time factor to ensure that we join the advanced ranks of the regional and international banking industry.
Fifth: Encouraging scientific studies and research aimed at developing outstanding performance in our financial institutions and ensuring the transformation of those recommendations, studies and research from their theoretical reality into a concrete practical reality that reflects positively on economic, commercial and future developments.
Sixth: Studying the possibility of opening branches for local Iraqi banks, for the purpose of expanding the circle of banking activity, providing the best services and attracting more customers from banks as a means of attracting capital.
Seventh: Approving the basic principles of using interest to ensure increased deposits as well as giving the process the integrity of the national currency from counterfeiting, and addressing issues related to money laundering in order to preserve the value of the national currency, and the economic interests of the country.
He pointed to “the efforts of the executive and legislative authorities at the moment in developing the financial system and banking institutions through their quest to complete and legislate the relevant laws, which have reached their final stages, which are first: the draft securities and commodities law, which seeks to regulate the work of financial markets and commodities and control trading operations in cash and commodities in a way that enhances economic activity, strengthens the investment environment and encourage the process of capital formation.”
He continued, “The second project is the law of the Center for Banking Studies, which aims to develop the scientific work of banking work, and raise the level of technical and professional performance in the banking system, and the third project is the Islamic Investment Sukuk Law, which aims to create and diversify investment tools in the Iraqi financial market and enable Islamic banks and Islamic financial companies to contribute to the development of economic projects.”