Baghdad – WAA
The Central Bank of Iraq announced today, Friday, the results of the visit of the delegation headed by the Governor of the Central Bank, Ali Mohsen Al-Alaq, to the United States of America, which lasted from August 26 to 29, 2024.
The Central Bank of Iraq confirmed in a statement – received by the (INA) – that “a high-level negotiating delegation headed by Governor Ali Mohsen Al-Alaq, held a series of intensive meetings in New York City, USA, which included discussions with the US Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Bank, in addition to meetings with a group of companies (Visa, Mastercard and MoneyGram) as well as banks (Citi Bank and JP Morgan) as well as international auditing firms (KPMG, E&Y, K2i and Oliver Wyman).”
He added, “The participants in the meetings praised the major transformations accomplished by the Central Bank of Iraq, which represent an unprecedented achievement at the country level, as the bank has achieved remarkable progress in the procedures for monitoring foreign transfers and cash sales of the US dollar, which has led to improving systems, policies and procedures in accordance with international and local standards, enhancing transparency in covering foreign trade and providing protection for the banking and financial sector from the risks of money laundering, terrorist financing and financial crimes.”
He announced, “A meeting will be held between officials of the Central Bank of Iraq and its international partners by the end of this year regarding the major shift in ending the work of the electronic platform for foreign transfers and replacing it with direct banking relations between Iraqi banks and the network of international correspondent banks, according to the plan set by this bank, and implemented internationally, which will allow the Central Bank of Iraq and the Federal Reserve Bank to exercise their supervisory roles away from executive procedures, as this shift will have important repercussions on the stability, fluidity and transparency of the country’s foreign trade financing operations,” noting that “it aims to achieve the required stability in exchange rates, which in turn will lead to enhancing the efficiency of the financial system in Iraq.”
He pointed out that “the meetings in New York City also addressed the mechanisms for expanding the network of international correspondent banks and qualifying Iraqi banks to meet the requirements necessary to open their accounts with international correspondent banks; with the aim of enabling them to complete their financial transactions, whether through external transfers in US dollars or other foreign currencies.”