Warkaa bank says it has not collapsed

[k98nights]

Warkaa bank says it has not collapsed

Monday, September 20th 2010 1:36 PM

Sulaimaniya, Sept. 20 (AKnews) - The general director of Iraq’s Warkaa Bank said on Sunday that his bank has not collapsed but has faced problems due to a recent decision of the Iraqi government to that led to over $1.6 billion to be withdrawn from the bank.

The Iraqi government recently decided to withdraw its money from all private banks, leading to media reports that the Warkaa Bank had collapsed.

Speaking during a press conference in Sulaimaniya, Mohammed Hussein said, “Warkaa Bank has not collapsed. It is just some problems we are facing which will be resolved soon and we will resume our work in a better way.”

He said the Iraqi Trade Ministry owes $250 million to the bank but has failed to return the money because of the changes in the leadership of the ministry.

On his part, Dler Mohammed, the head of Warkaa’s branch in Kurdistan said the Iraqi minister of finance has agreed to give a loan of around $64 million to the bank.

He added several British and Lebanese companies have also agreed to buy shares in Warkaa but did not provide the names of the companies.

Mohammed said following the government’s decision, the Iraqi Public Vehicle Company withdrew around $680 million from the bank. He added that later citizens withdrew around $1 billion as well.

“During talks with officials at Kurdistan’s Ministry of Finance, they promised us to return the pensions for retired government personnel to Warkaa bank,” said Mohammed.

The Kurdish Ministry of Finance had decided two months ago to give the pensions to government banks to dispense instead of Warkaa.

Warkaa bank was established in 1999 and currently is one of the largest private banks in Iraq with 120 branches all over the country.

Reported by Dilashd Saifaddin

Ms/AKnews

http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/2/182519

[oildriven]

Sounds like they had a hard time dealing with a run on the bank.

[FloridaChick]

Thank you for the article Knights... Warka has opened IRAQ to Western investors and been the first to innovate with technology and online banking etc...

This is certainly one heck of a ride I'm on... I can feel it in tummy!

I'm holding out and believing for the best...

[hrealq]

I feel a little better now. Thanks for the post.

[tcjams]

Sounds like they had a hard time dealing with a run on the bank.

It's about to get interesting........

[Teresa82]

Hey! are those MC hammer pants????? :lol:

Edited September 20, 2010 by Teresa82

[onerighthand]

Hey! are those MC hammer pants????? :lol:

Why yes they are. Do you like? :^)

[dinarded]

These are not the droids you are looking for....move along