Foreign banks were banned from Iraq throughout 35 years of Baathist rule, while in the 1990s the banking system was badly affected by a crippling economic embargo and heavy regulation. HSBC, Standard Chartered Plc and the National Bank of Kuwait were given permission last year to open in Iraq. However, HSBC does not yet have operations in Iraq.
Although it is billed as an investment bank, Dar Es Salaam is a commercial lender with personal banking operations. It has 14 branches in Iraq.
"I think because the banking system in Iraq is still in its fairly early stages of development it will be a question of putting in place fundamental services," Hodgkinson said.
"But we are looking to computerise, to have ATMs (automatic teller machines) and to offer cross-country payments and other services. And they do have a branch network."
"We remain actually pretty optimistic about the Gulf region; obviously it's helped by high oil, gas and petrochemical prices, but it's not solely driven by that," Hodgkinson said.
"There is a process of liberalisation or mobilisation of private-sector capital we are seeing both within countries and across borders, investments taking place from one country to another, which we believe will be sustained in the longer term."
Source: Reuters
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