Iraqi Cabinet Approves Doubling of Trade Bank's Capital

Iraq’s Cabinet agreed to double the capital of state-owned Trade Bank of Iraq to one trillion dinars ($858 million), State Minister Ali al-Dabbagh, the official government spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement today.

Baghdad-based Trade Bank is under investigation for alleged irregularities and its former president and chairman, Hussein al-Uzri, is facing an arrest warrant issued by the Iraqi authorities, Ali al-Allaq, secretary general of the Council of Ministers, said in June 2011. He has since been replaced by Hamida al-Jaf.

Iraq’s central bank has asked private banks operating in the country to raise their capital to 250 billion dinars by the end of June 2013 to increase lending, investment and competitiveness. The country has seven state-owned banks, 23 private banks and eight foreign lenders, according to the central bank website. Iraq also has 11 Islamic banks.

To contact the reporter on this story: Khalid Al-Ansary in Baghdad at kalansary@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net