The Central Bank’s Governor, Ali Al-Alaq, confirmed on Wednesday that a number of decisions had been adopted to stop certain banks and businesses from obtaining dollars due to their noncompliance with local and international regulations. He clarified that these measures are part of an effort to improve compliance with anti-money laundering regulations.
In an interview with the official agency that NRT Arabia later obtained, Al-Alaq stated that there is a distinction between a bank being placed on the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s (OFAC) sanctions list and a bank being prohibited from dealing in dollars. He emphasized that the former is not a punishment but rather an incentive to look into the matter. adherence to international norms.
He emphasized that the Central Bank conducts ongoing reviews and makes decisions to deprive some banks for reasons related to compliance with instructions and rules. He also explained that the concerned banks can correct their conditions to comply with the requirements and that there is a committee that issues dozens of decisions weekly related to issues of compliance and combating money laundering.
Al-Alaq refuted news reports claiming that the US Treasury had decided to impose sanctions on many Iraqi banks, stating that the claims presently concerned Al-Huda Bank and the chairman of its board of directors.
In closing, Al-Alaq said that the Central Bank aims to control banks’ external transfer activities and warned that banks that do not comply would not be able to receive dollars until they meet the requirements and attain the security of their external transfer activities.
