Banks call upon Iraqi parliament to issue law protecting them Saturday, March 5th 201

[Duke]

Banks call upon Iraqi parliament to issue law protecting them
Saturday, March 5th 2011 10:36 PM


Baghdad, Feb. 5 (AKnews) - A number of owners of banking offices in Baghdad demanded on Saturday the Iraqi parliament of legislating a law that regulates and protects their financial transactions from the market changes because of the sudden decisions taken by the Iraqi government.

Ali Abdul-Zahra, owner of an exchange shop told AKnews that the work of banking in Iraq is still blurry and in need of regulation through legislation of laws that regulate the opening of the exchange offices.

"The law is supposed to prevent any economic decision that may disrupt the currency market which negatively affects the work of the offices."

"The circulation of hard currency (dollar) at the present time follow the decisions taken by the Iraqi government in particular with regard to the entry of goods into the country or not."

fadil Taher, the owner of Qusour Exchange office in Baghdad told AKnews that "the exchange work in Iraq is subjected to unjustified controls and in need of great facilities by the concerned authorities."

"The banking offices suffer from the problem of moving exchangers who affect the Iraqi market and this require serious treatment by the Iraqi government to prevent the excahnge outside the unknown offices."

"The well-known banking offices do not deal with unknown external financial actors and they work according to the regulations of money laundering law, which is adopted by the Iraqi Central Bank (ICB)."

The CBI had announced earlier this month about submitting a new law to combat money laundering to the Iraqi parliament in coordination with other government institutions, in order to provide greater protection for Iraq's economic system and to enter the international assessment.

The Anti-Money Laundering law adopted in 2004 states on securing the financial institutions, it also emphasizes on the punishment of a fine that is not more than 40 million Iraqi dinars, or a fine that is equal to twice the value of the property for everyone who initiates illegal financial with his knowledge, with respect to the issue of financing the crime and the armed operations.

The ICB monitors the financial institutions and the issuance of a regulation, in addition to that it issues a list of suspicious financial activities.

The anti-money laundering law states on authorizing the ICB to control the financial institutions and check their documents and accounts.

While MP Haidar al-Yasiri told AKnews that the parliament will work to organize the work of banking offices after the completion of some important laws for the Iraqi economy.

"The exchange offices do not need a legislative act, but a non-governmental legislation that coordinate with the government to organize its work."

"The parliament is considering the implementation of this idea that is the formation of a council for the exchange offices to change the work."

Hundreds of exchange offices are found in Iraq and they work almost daily and has links with the most countries in the world.

Reported by Saman Dazzayi
RN\GS AKnews

http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/2/223036/