Shafaq News/ The Iraqi Private Banks Association revealed, on Sunday, a growth in accounts, bank cards and electronic payment devices after the great support provided by Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani and the Central Bank of Iraq to the banking sector, through activating electronic payment in government and private institutions and reforming trade financing mechanisms. External.
The Executive Director of the Iraqi Private Banks Association, Ali Tariq, said in a press statement that the Iraqi banking sector is witnessing significant growth, thanks to support from the government and the Central Bank of Iraq, noting that banks and electronic payment companies have good infrastructure, with a significant expansion in their services, Which increased confidence between the banking sector and citizens.
He pointed out that bank accounts grew by 14% if they reached 10.02 million bank accounts by September 30, 2023, after there were more than 8.79 million accounts at the end of 2022, which means the creation of more than 1.2 million accounts within 9 months.
Tariq also indicated that current accounts grew by 17.7% and reached 3.54 million accounts, savings accounts grew by 11% to reach 5.55 million accounts, while fixed deposit accounts grew by 4.6% to reach 236.8 thousand accounts, and corporate accounts increased by 5% to reach 688.7 thousand accounts. A thousand accounts.
He confirmed that the number of bank cards increased by 14.2%, as banks and electronic payment companies issued 2.3 million new cards during the past 9 months, bringing the total number of cards to 18.5 million cards, noting that point-of-sale devices grew by 117% during this period, reaching 23,261 devices. While at the end of last year there were 10,718 devices.
Tariq explained that ATMs grew by 30.5% and reached 2,901 after there were 2,223 machines at the end of last year.
The Executive Director continued by saying that the transformations witnessed by the financial sector in Iraq are important in achieving economic reform, and this is due to the support from the government and the Central Bank, and the change in the process of external transfer to finance trade, has made companies’ bank accounts rise significantly.
shafaq.com
