Trade Bank of Iraq
 | |
| Government-owned corporation | |
| Industry | Banking |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Headquarters | Baghdad, Iraq |
Key people |
Hussein Al Uzri Chairman of the Board |
| Products | Financial Services |
| Website | www.tbi.com.iq |
Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) (Arabic: المصرف العراقي للتجارة) is a publicly owned bank headquartered in Baghdad, Iraq.
History
The Trade Bank of Iraq was established in 2003 by the U.S. Administrator to Iraq Paul Bremer, originally to finance trade deals and replace the oil for food program.
TBI is owned by the Iraqi government itself but operates as a commercial bank with a virtual monopoly on letters of credit for government purchases, giving it immense political leverage over the Iraqi government.
Its chairman was a nephew of well-known Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi. Hussein Al Uzri (Arabic: حسين عصام الازري) was appointed by Bremer and kept the position under successive Iraqi administrations. Al Uzri is the founder and first Chairman of Board of directors and President of the Trade Bank of Iraq, until his unwarranted summary dismissal on 2 June 2011. He is the Grandson of Abdul Amir Al Uzri, an Iraqi politician in 1950 when Iraq was a kingdom, who served as a minister several times and as an ambassador to Iran. In June 2011, Reuters reported that the Iraqi government issued an arrest warrant for Al Uzri, stemming from an investigation at the Trade Bank [1]. (Reuters article on arrest warrant)
In June 2011, Reuters reported that Al Uzri was named in an arrest warrant by Iraqi authorities. As yet no details of the allegations for the dismissal, or supporting evidence, have been presented.
Many inside and outside Iraq believe that this action is politically motivated. A British adviser to the bank's board, Sir Claude Hankes, condemned the move by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government as "political skulduggery". He said the bank had resisted efforts by members of the government to try to make it undertake "improper banking transactions".
During Hussein Al-Uzri’s stewardship, the bank grew from nothing to be the largest bank in Iraq. It now has international banking relationships with a total of 134 banks in 39 countries who have together provided TBI with substantial lines of credit. These banks include JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank and Standard Chartered. TBI has been audited by leading western firms from foundation, Ernst & Young for the first five years and then PricewaterhouseCoopers, who gave an unqualified report for 2010.
Since 2011, Hamdiya Al Jaf was appointed as a chairman of the Trade Bank of Iraq in 2011 and no further financial statements were published by independent auditors. The bank has also lost it's semi-independent status and is now under the direct control of the prime minister's office.
Since early day achievements in modernizing the Iraqi financial sector by implementing latest technological and banking solution, the bank has not offered any new products and services to the Iraqi market and is lacking behind many smaller banks who offer easier banking services such as online and mobile banking.
Branches of the Bank
TBI has 9 branches distributed on the capital, Baghdad and Basra and Najaf, Arbil and Sulaimaniya. The bank is now completing the remaining branches, which will cover all governorates of Iraq.