Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi private banks have begun implementing urgent compliance measures tied to lifting restrictions on several lenders, banking sources told Shafaq News on Thursday.

The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) instructions require stronger anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing controls, tighter governance, closer monitoring of dollar movements, and measures to prevent smuggling and illicit transfers, the sources explained, adding that banks were given deadlines to complete the procedures, with failure potentially limiting access to international banking services.

Employees at several private lenders separately told Shafaq News that management had intensified work, with some staff working about 12 hours daily and reporting severe exhaustion and fainting cases.

On July 18, Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi’s Media Office said CBI Governor Nizar Nasser Hussein held high-level meetings with US Treasury officials that produced an understanding to return restricted Iraqi banks to foreign correspondent channels in currencies other than the US dollar.

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Hussein said seven banks are currently eligible to resume non-dollar correspondent banking and may later qualify for dollar transactions after completing further compliance and governance requirements.