SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has formally raised concerns with the Central Bank of Iraq and the Finance Ministry in Baghdad over prolonged delays by the state-owned Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) in deploying new ATMs across the Kurdistan Region, announced Aziz Ahmad, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister.
A year ago, TBI’s chairman pledged 100 new ATMs to support the KRG’s My Account financial inclusion program, Ahmad adds. But despite more than 40,000 employee applications, the bank has yet to issue a single purchase order. Civil servants also face lengthy delays in receiving their bank cards.
“New customers expect more from what is often described as Iraq’s leading government bank,” Ahmad said. “So does the KRG.”
In May 2024, the Trade Bank of Iraq joined the KRG’s My Account initiative, aimed at digitizing salary payments for civil servants in the Kurdistan Region.
For over a decade, salary disbursements in the Kurdistan Region have faced repeated disruptions. Civil servants have endured periods of unpaid wages, pay cuts, and mandatory savings due to ongoing financial disputes between the KRG and the Iraqi federal government.