Helping in building the economy since 2003
With regards to banking services and technology; Iraq is strongly committed to keeping up with global trends and has taken successful strides in this area. Today, there are seven state-owned banks (SOB), fifty-three private sector-owned banks (PSOB), and fourteen international bank branches; raising the overall number of financial organizations in the country to seventy four. However, while banks in Iraq have 904 branches across the country, the majority of these branches are mainly located in the economic hubs of Baghdad and Basra, at 37.1% and 9.3%, respectively ultimately slowing down overall financial progress.
Despite having so many financial organizations, the Iraqi banking industry only contributed 1.94% of the country’s overall GDP in 2021 strongly indicating that there are still some banking aspects that need to be addressed. Iraqis to date, are still dependent on cash payments, which is further verified by the World Bank report, whereby in 2017, a mere 23% of Iraqis had owned a bank account. This is directly attributed to a lack of confidence in the banking sector coupled with inadequate knowledge of cashless-payment methods.
Due to the current situation of the banking sector in Iraq, Ezma Finance penetrated the market with the exchange industry in 2016. This financial arm was created in part, due to the fact that our business hub is our home country of Iraq, regional and global expansion plans as well as the lack of a strong banking system. This financial arm was created under the umbrella of both Ezma Holding and that of the CBI rules and regulations.
