The Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq expected, on Saturday, that the number of digital banks in the country would increase and be larger than in neighboring countries.
This came during his hosting of the activities of the Electronic Payment Conference towards Financial Stability in Iraq, which was launched in the capital, Baghdad, and was attended by a Shafaq News Agency correspondent.
Al-Alaq said during the hosting that “the experience of digital banks in the world is an experience that indicates a shift towards an approach that is completely consistent with technical developments and employing them in a direction that serves various operations.”
He added, “Digital banks are widely spread in the world, and the volume of financial transactions for these banks has reached about 5 trillion annually, and it is hoped that the number will reach about 7 trillion dollars by the year 2027.”
Al-Alaq also pointed out that this is an important indicator that calls on us to stimulate this aspect, focus on it and push it forward, adding that “Iraq will be one of the countries that will advance in digital banks that occupy an important space, and the number of these banks in Iraq will be greater than in neighboring countries.”
He continued by saying, “Before launching the licensing round for digital banks, the Central Bank conducted in-depth studies and reviewed the experiences of other countries extensively until we set the necessary rules and controls to license this type of bank.”
The Central Bank Governor concluded his speech by saying, “We were surprised that the number of applicants to establish digital banks exceeded 70 banks,” stressing that “the Central Bank is studying the applications to establish digital banks, sorting them out, and selecting a limited number of them.”
shafaq.com
