Dry Hamdiya: Trade Bank finances Basra Aqaba pipeline

Dry Hamdiya: Trade Bank finances Basra Aqaba pipeline




Created on Saturday, 25 May 2013 08:01 | Print | E-mail


Abu Dhabi / Agencies

Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Trade Bank of Iraq's state-owned yesterday that the bank intends to expand its activities and open local branches in Lebanon and Turkey to benefit from the growth of trade with the two countries. The bank, which was founded in 2003 as a commercial bank and practically a monopoly on letters of credit used in international trade to ensure that government procurement.

Dry said Hamdiya Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank in an interview with "Reuters" The bank is awaiting approval by the Lebanese authorities and will soon apply for a license in Turkey. He added that the bank has 16 branches around the country will open three new branches in 2013.

She said on the sidelines of an energy conference held in Abu Dhabi "We are seeing growth in business activities between Iraq and countries such as Lebanon and Turkey, the UAE and we want to expand our business operations and our credit portfolio." She added that increasing numbers of Iraqis living in these two countries will discuss the bank enter the UAE when the opportunity comes.

The focus of the main activities of the Bank on trade finance, but also seeks to enter the areas of project finance, industrial and agricultural finance. And Hamdiya added: "show a lot of projects in Iraq in various fields, so we want to be a part of this." And the development of Iraq's massive plans for the construction of infrastructure to export oil to suit the expected rise in crude production but lacks sufficient funding after years of war and sanctions that have undermined the economy.

Hamdiya stated that the Trade Bank of Iraq participates in a project worth 18 billion dollars to build a pipeline between Basra in Iraq and Aqaba in Jordan without offering details, since the plan is still in the final stages. She added that the bank - not included in the Iraqi Stock Exchange, which grew its net profit 34 per cent last year - is expected to grow a similar or greater in 2013 with the expansion of its activities, adding that the bank's net profits amounted to $ 228 million last year, the highest level in four years. The bank's capital amounts to about $ 800 million, up from 100 million when it started its activities in 2003.


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