Jordan Times
Wednesday, June 9, 2004
IFC helps in training
senior Iraqi banking employees
By Rami Abdelrahman
AMMAN — Training of senior Iraqi banking employees is being conducted for the
first time in the region with the help of the International Finance Corporation
(IFC), the World Bank's private sector arm.
More than 50 Iraqis from 19 mostly private sector
banks convened Tuesday at the Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences in
Amman and identified their training needs, the challenges faced by the Iraqi
banking sector, and means to switch into an open banking market.
The senior managers will enroll in a three-day workshop introducing
“state-of-the-art” banking practices to be implemented in Iraq where access has
been constrained by its recent legacy of successive wars and international
economic sanctions, an IFC statement said.
The workshop's main topics include credit risk management, asset-liability
management, strategic planning, foreign risk management and marketing.
The worshop is organised by the Private Enterprise Partnership for the
Middle-East (PEP-ME), a technical assistance programme, created, funded and
managed by the IFC.
During a press conference on Tuesday, IFC's Senior Investment Officer for the
Middle East and North Africa Bassel Hamwi said the IFC's funding is part of a
$50 million World Bank grant allocated to develop the Iraqi banking sector. He
said the sector is expecting total grants to reach to $110 million with the
scheduled aid from other donors. He did not elaborate.
Hamwi also indicated that Iraqi private sector banks are expected to merge with
international banks, which would “develop” the sector.
During the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein regime, Iraq had two banks
only, but more banks are emerging in the country.