phlip

IMO, there certainly is a possible route for IQD Speculators holding IQD cash to send their physical bricks of cash back to the source in order to get paid ~ something ~ when the time comes to turn it in. The same opportunities that exist now (internet dealers or banks acting as dealers) should still be there for a limited time after the CBI starts issuing its new currency into circulation for exchange. I know for certain that once Iraqi Sovereignty set in and Iraqi Custom Inspection Stations were moved from Dubai back to Baghdad it was definitely against Iraqi Law to FedEx or otherwise courier or mail any Iraqi currency from outside of Iraq to anywhere inside of Iraq. Here’s the email thread that happened when I was about to send my eighth FedEx pack of IQD to the front door of Warka branch # 790 in Baghdad in care of Mr. Issa. I sent an email enquiry to the Customer Accounts Department at Warka Bank with a cc to the Customer Services Department and a cc to the International Foreign Relations Department. In it, I said the following: Dear Sirs: When I first inquired about opening an account with Warka Bank, you sent me an email which contained (in part) the following message: Thank you for choosing our bank and taking interest in our fine services. It is possible to send your Iraqi Dinars by courier service to the following mailing address: Warka Bank for Investment and Finance - Main Branch – Baghdad Iraq International Foreign Relations Department - Attn: Mohammad K. Issa Watheq Square – Salman Faiq St. – Hay Alwihda – Sec. 902 – 14th St. Upon receiving your package it will be counted both by hand and machine in the presence of three dedicated bank employees under my supervision and we will credit the exact amount received to your account. Best regards, Customer Accounts Dept International Affairs Since that time, I have sent Iraqi Dinars by FedEx to this address numerous times and have helped others to do the same. However, lately I have become concerned because currently there is a rumor circulating among Iraqi Dinar investors that it is no longer Warka’s policy to accept physical Iraqi Dinar banknotes by courier to fund our accounts. At your earliest convenience, please confirm that the above mentioned mailing address is still correct and that it is still Warka Bank’s policy to accept physical Iraqi Dinar banknotes sent by courier (FedEx) to fund our accounts. I greatly appreciate your time to reply to my request and look forward to your confirmation. Thank you again for your fine service and attention to my accounts. Best Regards, I received this answer from Mohammad K. Issa: Please note that in accordance with the regulations set by the CBI, Iraqi banks are not permitted to hold IQD accounts at their corresponding bank and are prohibited from receiving deposits or wire transfers in IQD currency where the only legal method of funding your account is through a USD bank to bank wire transfer. Furthermore, and as posted on our website, Iraqi Customs no longer permits courier companies operating in Iraq to receive and deliver packages containing funds of any currency and will be confiscated accordingly. Should you have any further questions or inquiries please take a moment to visit our website www.warka-bank.com news bulletin to view the latest notices and contact details of the related departments that will best handle your inquiries. We have several departments that will specifically handle each banking affair to your best interest by contacting them directly as they handle customer inquiries and transactions. Best regards, Mohammad K. Issa Deputy Managing Director Senior Executive Warka Bank for Investment and Finance This e-mail is confidential and the information contained in it is privileged. It should not be read, copied or used by anyone other than the intended recipient. This being the case, I’m pretty sure it’s still against Iraqi Law to physically send Bremer era, De La Rue IQD banknotes into Iraq except by some CBI and GOI approved and secured means that are within the guidelines of the Iraqi banking system ~ such as a secured re-supply direct from De La Rue to the CBI, for example. However, to stay within the law, the CBI could certainly direct De La Rue (or whoever is going to print up the new notes) to re-supply neighboring central banks directly with however much IQD they required to meet customer demands; and without any need for physical IQD to cross the border and break Iraqi Law. De La Rue receipts and amounts could be accounted for digitally against the CBI’s Total Money Supply ledger. According to Mr. Issa, the law says “Iraqi banks are not permitted to hold IQD accounts at their corresponding bank and are prohibited from receiving deposits or wire transfers in IQD currency where the only legal method of funding your account is through a USD bank to bank wire transfer”. That lets out a lot of places under Fed domination; therefore, most, if not all, IQD traders on the internet today buy, sell and ship physical IQD to and from Iraq’s immediate neighbors; or at least those neighbors which have correspondent banks that are allowed to hold IQD accounts for Iraqi Banks located inside Iraq. Countries such as Kuwait, Jordan, UAE (Dubai) are well known sources for correspondent banks that can sell IQD to dealers outside of Iraq. When the time comes, the internet dealers will have no choice but to sell back the IQD they redeem from individual Speculators to those same correspondent banks outside of Iraq ~ until those correspondent banks run out of cash Euros or USD’s or Euro/USD credit. Since the end buyer of those notes is the CBI, it will have to be the CBI that ultimately resupplies those same correspondent banks with either Euro’s or USD’s ~ and that’s counting both electronic and physical cash for both currencies. So, the eventual return flight of the Speculator Held De La Rue notes might start with a courier flight from individual speculator owners to a gathering point; either on the American continents or somewhere on the Eurasian continent. Then, a courier flight to either Kuwait, Jordan, or Dubai and a final internal courier drive to the Correspondent Bank of Choice ~ provided the dealer has an IQD account there ~ or knows someone further up the profit chain that does. Then, a physical deposit with all the De La Rue verifying and counting that such deposits require. Next, a confirmation is sent to the Iraqi bank inside Iraq that is responsible for the IQD account held at the Correspondent Bank of Choice. Next, a confirmation is sent to the CBI for final confirmation of credit in Euros and USD’s ~ whether cash or electronic. When the Iraqi bank inside Iraq receives confirmation from the CBI that credit has been extended against the pallets of IQD piling up inside the vaults of correspondent banks everywhere, then it will confirm Euro and USD credit to its correspondent banks in Kuwait, or Jordan, or Dubai. Eventually, those pallets of redeemed IQD (non-spendable outside of Iraq) will probably make a short trip to an incinerator to be destroyed ~ rather than go to the bother of physically transporting them back to the CBI vaults. To replace them, the CBI will simply release into circulation inside Iraq the USD equivalent of new lower denomination and upgraded IQD notes. The CBI will make an entry and the Iraqi Total Money Supply will be further reduced just like they planned. Meanwhile, the internet IQD dealers should have their ducks in a row ready to extend electronic credit via SWIFT to a correspondent bank in the individual Speculator’s home country (and which has permission from that country’s central bank to do so) and then finally onward to the individual Speculator’s home bank where an account is already held ready to receive it. If those De La Rue notes can never cross the Iraqi border as per Iraqi Law, then it seems improbable that they would ever need to be exchanged for the new lower denomination IQD currency anywhere outside of Iraq. The CBI itself would do the exchanging by directing the destruction of the old notes outside of Iraq and issuing new notes into circulation inside Iraq. So, the path to redeem physical IQD seems to be very much open. The CBI will of course pay its own declared fiat rate against the USD and the Euro. The Iraqi Bank inside Iraq will pay the CBI declared rate, but will charge a fee for moving the funds to correspondent banks outside of Iraq. The Correspondent Banks of Choice will pay the CBI declared rate, but will charge a fee that covers the one they paid, plus a profit. The Internet Dealers with IQD accounts in the Correspondent Bank of Choice will extend credit to individual Speculator home country correspondent banks which will then extend credit to the individual Speculator’s home bank account. A Speculator would have to consider the following costs against what they ultimately receive in compensation when they redeem their IQD cash: Total cost of initial purchase from dealer including shipping Cost of the courier to send it back to the dealer to be redeemed. Cost of the dealer fee charged to send you a wire or certified check Cost of the home bank fee to accept the transfer ~ if it’s a wire The IQD dealer will have to consider these costs when quoting prices to individual Speculators wanting to redeem their IQD notes: Cost to move credit/cash from the Iraqi Bank inside Iraq to the Correspondent Bank of Choice outside of Iraq Cost to move credit/cash from the Correspondent Bank of Choice to the IQD Dealers account at the same bank Cost to move credit/cash from the Dealers account to each Speculators home country correspondent bank and then on to the individual Speculators home bank account. In the end everybody gets paid ~ if the path remains open long enough ~ but at what net rate of exchange after all those costs. I surveyed (4) possible Internet Dealers to see what rates they were paying out to redeem physical IQD notes right now. CBI official rate less 10.68% per IQD Million less $30 send payment fee CBI official rate less 17.49% per IQD Million less $30 send payment fee CBI official rate less 21.29% per IQD Million less $25 send payment fee CBI official rate less 4.39% per IQD Million less $30 send payment fee plus a proof of purchase is required along with FINCEN currency report. Physical shipments of pallets of IQD cash could run into secure storage loggerheads waiting on turns to redeem from a limited number of authorized correspondent banks outside of Iraq, but eventually all those CBI “promises to pay” notes should make it through to receive credit for redemption ~ whenever the CBI decides to act on all those requests for credit or cash at the same time. Currently, the CBI is still resolving its currency demands by way of daily auctions without any announced plans to change.

I still feel confident that Warka will weather this slow period of prolonged harassment by Shia entities like the CBI and the GOI. The Sunni Bunnia Family which is still 56% owners of Warka Bank have business ties and relationships internationally that are older than present day Iraq. They’ve been savvy desert traders and successful caravan owners and are still a financial power to be reckoned with over a hundred years later; despite all the odds ~ including ISIS. That being said, we’re still mostly cut off from our Warka accounts except for the ability to log-in and watch the interest accumulate every 6 months. Not very much fun, really. For the benefit of all Warka account holders, I think a thread devoted to boosting morale with individual accounts of recent successes in communicating with Warka and gaining objectives would be good to have. Personally, I’m interested in the following: Recent success with getting a brand new password after never having one Recent success with getting a brand new password after forgetting the last one that you logged on with Recent success with having the last password you used restored so that you could log-in and change if for a current one. How long the process to obtain a workable password lasted ~ from the date of the 1st email to an actual log-in to your account date. What sort of emails and how many did you have to send to get it done? Was there an email response from Warka? If so, from whom? Is it possible to copy and paste that Warka response into a comment so that everyone can see that someone is there? Even though we still can’t internally move funds from our USD accounts to our IQD accounts or IQD back to our USD accounts ~ like we used to be able to do ~ I’m still very interested to know if it is possible to internally transfer IQD from one Warka account to another, like between spouses, relatives or friends. I’m pretty sure that would require registering the potential Beneficiary info into your Internal Beneficiaries list on-line first, but that’s still easily done. Since Warka has apparently reduced interest rates on its website, I’d like to know if it is still possible to purchase CD’s from Warka at the lower interest rates. Otherwise, why bother to lower them at all? IMO, any information about recent successes with any of these three objectives ~ Passwords, CD’s, or Internal Transfers ~ would be greatly appreciated and welcomed on this thread and especially if the description of the success is detailed enough for someone else to follow as an example.

Caper Please let us know if you actually have first-hand knowledge of Commerzbank AG recently ~ that is within the last 3 years ~ wiring USD or Euros to Warka Bank in Baghdad; or if you’re just assuming that it’s still true. It would certainly be enlightening if we knew whether or not Warka Bank, Baghdad was still allowing either USD or Euro incoming wire transfers to fund existing Warka accounts or to start new ones during their CBI Guardianship period. It would be especially informative if we knew whether or not either Commerzbank AG or Deutsche Bank AG in Germany have been allowed by the Deutsche Bundesbank (Germany’s Central Bank) to wire either Euros or USD to Warka Bank, Baghdad since that Guardianship was officially lifted over 16 months ago. Right now Warka’s Correspondent Banks List includes banks 23 Banks in these countries: Bahrain, Germany, Turkey, China, Jordan, Lebanon, Dubai (UAE), Kuwait, Egypt, Djibouti and Iraq. Warka has branches in both Djibouti and Lebanon. There are no Warka Correspondent Banks listed for the entire American continent ~ from Canada to southern Chile ~ and none under the control of the European Central Bank. Only 2 listed for Europe ~ both in Germany and both under the Deutsche Bundesbank, not the ECB. All the rest are in Asia or on the African continent. Since the US and Germany seem to remain close allies, I would find it remarkable if the Deutsche Bundesbank were allowing wire correspondence like that with Warka while the Fed was still denying its own designated hitter Citibank NA, NY, NY to do any business with a so called insolvent bank. On the other side of the coin, if either of the 2 German banks are still wiring funds to Warka, does that mean that those 2 banks are still capable of receiving wire transfers from Warka? Maybe a more pertinent question would be the one you are asking ~ which banks on the North American continent correspond with either of the 2 German banks. I don't know of any.

When I bought the bulk of my IQD cash, I paid the bank price of US$690 per IQD Million @ the official exchange rate of 1:1450. By the time I decided that I was tired of babysitting so much of the physical cash and FedExed it to Warka, the bank prices had gone up to 1:1170 and Warka was selling at 1:1175 to attract depositor business. Today’s exchange rate of 1:1166 means that bank prices are at $857.63 per IQD Million. From my perspective my overall ROI is 24.29%, so far. Plus the growth from Warka which has been close to 20% just over the last 4 years; even though they’ve been locked down from doing business with foreign depositors. However, most people I know bought IQD on line, through dealers; and paid anywhere from $980 to $1080 per IQD Million ~ delivered. IMO, being an IQD cash speculator is going to be a long row to hoe to get paid on this deal; especially if a person paid $1000 per IQD Million (or more) and the CBI Party Line plan for the “project to reduce the Iraqi Money Supply” is actually followed. The math is easy to demonstrate, but the logistics of actually FedExing the IQD cash held by each individual foreign speculator to a trusted dealer or bank (with the FedEx Waybill acting as a receipt), to an international airfreight service like FedEx, to a dealer somewhere in Kuwait (since it’s against Iraqi Law to FedEx IQD banknotes into or anywhere around Iraq), to a trusted delivery service staffed by mean eyed mercenaries collecting soldier of fortune wages, with AK’s and dirty looks pointed outboard all the way through a mad dash across the border in a convoy of up armored converted troop carriers and Humvees, at some point on the Kuwaiti/Iraqi border where there are no pesky Iraqi Customs Inspectors (looking to confiscate the load), to a Private Iraqi Bank inside Iraq (where cash truly is king). Such an Iraqi Private Bank should be happy to take in the pallets of De La Rue IQD banknotes, run them through the machine and deposit them into an account or the mercs wouldn’t have been tasked to go there in the first place; however, that whole process makes me nervous. The mercs would have to have Iraqi passports with some kind of validation allowing them to roll in an armed convoy anywhere they felt like. IS, Shia militia, Iraqi Regular Army, Sunni militia and Allah knows who else would feel they had every right to stop and question an unknown armed column invading from another country like that. IMO, somebody would be on the horn to somebody without some kind of stinking permission. After all the bills are counted and vetted for counterfeit, it will be the Private Iraqi Bank which is responsible for the delivery of the IQD cash back to the CBI vaults for deposit and for getting both electronic and cash credit back. They’ll do that on their own schedule, not the depositors. Meanwhile, the Private Iraqi Bank might have these possible options of reimbursing the depositors ~ who are actually still across the border in Kuwait: Send a specified amount of USD cash back with the mercs Electronically credit a known correspondent bank in another country with a specified amount deposited to a specified account ready to distribute ATM Cards to individual speculators all over the world and including all the security precautions that method entails. Electronically credit a known correspondent bank in another country with a specified amount deposited to a specified account ready to wire transfer funds to individual speculator accounts all over the world including all the security protocol checks and proof of ID that method will involve. Electronically credit the opening of new individual depositor’s accounts as specified at that very same Private Iraqi Bank and with the full proof of individual ID to accompany the opening an account that method demands. Once that Private Iraqi Bank business is all squared away and verified six ways from Sunday; the mercs can make the final romp back over the border and with some USD cash this time around (or not). Not sure how pallets or bags of USD are supposed to be imported back into the USA. It’s probably legal, but after a certain amount Customs might want to ask a few questions and possibly even have somebody fill out some currency forms that will be forwarded to the US Treasury Department. Treasury will probably task their in-house IRS gang to: “Get over there and muscle somebody around, until we get some revenue income from this deal ~ because Barry and them are thinking of going to Hawaii on vacation again, and we’ll need the extra dough” Once all the IQD cash has been redeemed in Iraq and individual speculator amounts verified and accounted for; an individual speculator might then have the option of: A Pre-paid Debit/Credit card that would work in ATM’s outside of Iraq, and which would require a home country correspondent bank’s endorsement and support in order for the card holder to actually get paid. Typically these cards have daily withdrawal limits for safety; which would require some fairly exhausting vetting of the card holder by the card issuing bank in order to get that limit raised. Specifying a convenient home/offshore bank account that could accept wire transfers, but which would be subject to such maximum amount limitations as declared by both the sending bank and the home country/offshore bank they are headed for. The Fed through FACTA has even more to say about the movement and location of all electronic and cash USD around the world and rather than be audited by the US Treasury Department, or interfered with by the US IRS gang (at the behest of the Fed), most offshore banks and countries comply as closely as possible to Fed limitations; while still doing their best to service foreign depositors. Quite a few now are starting to just refuse service to Amrikans with USA Passports for ID. Too much trouble, Efendi. Sorry Withdrawing USD cash from a convenient home/offshore bank account with all the Fed paperwork that entails when the amount requested alerts some nosy clerk’s attention enough to call the bank manager over for a consultation on exactly why in the world you would ever want to withdraw that much cash? What are you, some kind of terrorist? IMO, two hours and your entire life’s story later, you’ll become convinced that you’ll never do that again. All that attention and often times for far less than $10,000 ~ how embarrassing!! Instead of Kuwait, another possible destination for pallets of De La Rue banknotes waiting to be redeemed for USD might be to a Private Iraqi Bank Branch that is located outside of Iraq. In a case like that, the pallets of De la Rue notes could be air freighted directly to that outside of Iraq Private Iraqi Bank Branch without much of a customs problem. Most countries and banks outside of Iraq still don’t think those De La Rue notes are worth depositing; and so pass them through inspections as if it was monopoly money. Once deposited, it would be the Iraqi Private Bank’s responsibility to get the notes (legally) back to the CBI in Iraq. The whole redeem by electronics routine could start with that outside of Iraq Branch and be expanded rather quickly to any other Iraqi Private Bank Branches located outside of Iraq ~ as necessary. Right now, though, a person has a chance to redeem whatever De La Rue IQD banknotes he’s holding by selling them for USD to a dealer or a bank willing to act as a middle man and I feel confident that those internet advertised opportunities by middle men for foreign speculators to cash-in on the IQD will continue right up to and probably even for a little while after any RD/RV event ~ or until the trading in physical IQD isn’t a good business anymore ~ whichever comes first. IMO, on-line opportunities to sell/trade cash IQD will continue for a while and a person need only decide when to cash-in for himself ~ now or later. IMO, the whole burning question of whether to hold or sell a brick of IQD banknotes is going to be dependent on the rate of exchange against the USD that is offered to redeem that brick back to spendable USD ~ plus or minus any corresponding shipping & handling, bank premium, dealer premium and/or customs style fees that different outfits feel like dinging the gross amount for. IMO, Currency Speculators holding De La Rue IQD cash have a slight advantage over Warka account holders, right now, in that they can actually move what they’re holding for what appears to be bank prices (or better) per million ~ minus any relevant fees or premium spreads. Warka account holders can’t move their IQD around at all. They have to be content with watching their gardens grow from a distance. Either way, here we all are ~ Warka and cash holders alike ~ having been bitten by the bug and felt the high of waking up to overnight windfalls of wealth. IMO, cash is king in Iraq, but not in Amrika. IMO, there’s no need for smugness or haranguing others as to where you think you currently are (or aren’t) with this gamble. Everybody got here by free will; and, by the lord Harry, IMO, we all paid the freight to feel like we do (or not)!! IMO, an IQD cash holder would be wise to console himself to be ready for a CBI Party Line plan for the “project” to be launched and to console himself to accept whatever rate and net USD back that scenario might entail. Once a person has done the adult thing like that and is still prepared to go on and accept any possible net loss consequences, then IMO, that person is probably entitled to feel however he likes about this speculation. Each case is bound to be different depending on amount risked and the anxiety level that such an amount has caused (or not). However, there appears to be legitimate paths by which IQD speculators can get paid ~ provided they are always prepared to take a net loss and call it a day. IMO, there are bound to be plenty of those IQD speculators who have already consoled themselves with the idea that any projected net loss (and sometimes perhaps that includes up to the entire amount speculated with) has been well worth the “E” Ride adventure this deal has provided because of the interactions surrounding their lives and the contacts that this IQD speculation has provoked. I have no opinion as to “smart or dumb” or “right or wrong” or “should’ve, would’ve, could’ve” on this deal. The fact, is I’m here with my own IQD holdings waiting on something I have no control over to happen ~ just like everybody else. How’d I get here? By exercising free will; even though I didn’t anticipate all of the consequences that came as a result of deciding to do so. I have never yet paid for specialized advice on how to prepare for a sudden windfall of wealth other than a couple of books that I ended up not reading; but nevertheless, was still certainly prepared for a windfall for about 5 years ~ and that was years ago. It’s even easier now. Self-taught by internet exploration and anyone could do the same thing. In the end, if I intend to be honest with myself about this speculation, I will have to add the cost of the trip to Hong Kong and Dubai, the cost of the week in Hong Kong, including food, travel and lodging, the cost of the week in Dubai, including food, travel and lodging, the cost of 5 years of maintenance fees to keep an offshore Hong Kong International Corporation with a bank account open and ready, all FedEx costs for packages sent to Warka, and the cost of all wire transfer fees to my (actual) out of pocket tally on this IQD speculation and I strongly suspect that when I do so, I’ll find that I’m running a (slightly) negative ROI over the last 10 years. Those costs might very well wipe out my perceived 24.29% bump via the CBI rate increases. I’m fine with whatever actual deficit that is because of what I’ve learned along the way ~ provided I can eventually do whatever I want with those Warka accounts. I already know what I feel about any future RD/RV and am prepared stay in; and especially since I really have no other choice.

IMO, these following two Opinions may need extra special scrutiny by all foreign currency speculators in order to determine the Opinion’s inherent credibility; and also to allow any speculator to come to his own informed conclusion about the IQD. First One: Opinion: The probable scenario for the upcoming redenomination/revalue will be that the existing high denomination De La Rue IQD banknotes will have their value raised; plus at the same time new IQD currency of smaller denomination notes will be put into circulation and with the same new RV exchange rate that the higher denomination notes are given. People will continue to trade in their De La Rue high denomination notes for USD cash and eventually, only the 25,000 notes will be pulled from circulation while all the rest of the existing higher denomination De La Rue notes from IQD10000 on down will be left in circulation to co-exist indefinitely with the newer lower denomination notes which will be in denominations all the way down to IQD 1. Perspective: Removing only the IQD25000 De La Rue banknotes from circulation and adding even more new notes to the circulating currency would seem to add to the Iraqi Total Money Supply, not reduce it, as per the CBI Party Line plan for the “project”. Perspective: This Opinion is at direct odds to at least 5 years of CBI Party Line propaganda that states that when new currency is issued it will be for the purpose of exchange with the old currency in a neutral profit event in order to remove the old from circulation. Perspective: The denominations the CBI means to leave in circulation would add up to a total volume of IQD that allows the Iraqi Money Supply to be counted in Billions, not Trillions of dinar. Perspective: Giving the new currency notes the same exchange rate as the existing De La Rue notes would be counter-productive to the plan of exchange because the two sets of banknotes would be 3 zeros apart in denomination and with the same exchange rate would be 3 zeros different in value when expressed in USD. Perspective: The CBI management are veterans of an Iraqi IQD RV, because they have already experienced the change over from Saddam’s Picture fiat IQD to De La Rue fiat IQD with 3 more zeros on the face. Now, they have published a definite plan to go back to currency without so many zeros and with the latest in languages and security protocols. This Opinion ignores that history. Perspective: This Opinion ignores the (24) year long history of Iraq, as a member of the IMF, conforming to the internationally established way of determining the exchange rate between the IQD and the USD and also ignores the fact that the IQD has been and still is pegged to the USD aka the Petro Dollar aka the currency of liquid gold. Second One: Opinion: There are USD millionaires who have purchased US$ Millions worth of IQD and are now holding IQD Billions and they should know what they are doing, since they are already USD millionaires. If millionaires who can afford to speculate with US$ Millions think that there is a chance to make a profit speculating on the IQD, then it should be all right for the less well-heeled speculator, shouldn’t it? After all, these millionaires didn’t make their millions by being stupid about money, did they? Perspective: This Opinion equates being a USD Millionaire with being smart and with being particularly smart with money and further with being sufficiently informed about foreign currency speculation. No way to prove that. Perspective: Every Millionaire as a Human being is different and the paths to get to be a millionaire are as varied as the Human beings themselves. This would indicate that it would be very difficult to determine whether or not those particular millionaires who have chosen to speculate with US$ 1 Million or more on IQD are indeed smarter than the average person or not; yet this Opinion insinuates that it’s true.

I also have a bone to pick with these Opinions that were listed on that initial post: Opinion: Because Iraq is now a truly sovereign country, and out from under UN Chapter 7 sanctions, the CBI can set the exchange rate between the IQD and the USD to whatever it wants it to be; without permission or approval of the IMF, the World Bank, the Fed, the Bank of International Settlements or the Bank of England. The fact that Iraq is one of the founding member countries of the IMF doesn’t matter; the CBI can still just do whatever it wants to with its own currency. Opinion: Because Iraq is so special out of all the countries in the world, the CBI will not have to follow the very same international currency and finance laws that govern all the rest of the countries associated with the IMF; even though Iraq through the CBI (which is still under IMF supervision), has been doing just that ~ right up to current day. Opinion: The exchange of the old currency for the new has nothing to do with value. During an exchange period lasting anywhere from 90 days up to two years where nobody in Iraq loses anything by just exchanging the notes, foreign investors will also be able to exchange old currency for new and then watch the value of the new notes climb against the USD (within the time limit of whatever exchange period actualizes) until such time as they will be able to cash in the new lower denomination notes for USD at no loss. Opinion: Before issuing the new lower denomination IQD banknotes which will then be exchanged for the existing De La Rue notes now in circulation, the GOI will have to educate its own citizens and the rest of the world about its proposed project plan via mass media; and that education period may cause a short delay between the time the new currency is released (with its increased value against the USD) and the time when foreign speculators might actually cash in the De La Rue notes they are holding for these new IQD notes and then eventually for USD. Perspective: The education portion of the CBI Party Line Plan for the IQD RD/RV “project” has been in place for at least 5 years. Everyone already knows what to expect when the project is launched. Perspective: If the CBI truly is able to declare any value it wants to its own currency against the USD; without permission or approval of the IMF, the World Bank, the Fed, the Bank of International Settlements or the Bank of England, then it sure hasn’t taken advantage of that unique privilege in the last couple of decades. Even Saddam, who certainly would do whatever he wanted inside Iraq, never bucked the Fed with his own interpretation of a fiat, non-supportable rate of exchange between the IQD and the USD ~ at least not successfully. The following chart demonstrates that Iraq, as a member country of the IMF, follows the internationally accepted Ratio of IQD Money Supply divided by CBI USD Reserves to help determine the accepted rate of exchange between the IQD and the USD, and did so even under Saddam. Iraq’s Money Supply and Exchange Rate from 1991 until 2014: IQD Money Supply Foreign Exchange Rate pegged to USD CBI (Min) USD Reserves 1991 = 24.7 billion $1 = 10 IQD or $0.1000000 = 1 IQD $2.47 billion 1992 = 43.9 billion $1 = 21 IQD or $0.0476190 = 1 IQD $2.09 billion 1993 = 86.4 billion $1 = 74 IQD or $0.0135135 = 1 IQD $1.17 billion 1994 = 239 billion $1 = 458 IQD or $0.0021834 = 1 IQD $521.833 million 1995 = 705 billion $1 = 1674 IQD or $0.0005973 = 1 IQD $421.097 million 1996 = 960 billion $1 = 1170 IQD or $0.0008547 = 1 IQD $820.512 million 1997 = 1.0 trillion $1 = 1471 IQD or $0.0006798 = 1 IQD $679.810 million 1998 = 1.3 trillion $1 = 1620 IQD or $0.0006173 = 1 IQD $802.469 million 1999 = 1.5 trillion $1 = 1972 IQD or $0.0005071 = 1 IQD $760.649 million 2000 = 1.7 trillion $1 = 1930 IQD or $0.0005181 = 1 IQD $880.829 million 2001 = 2.1 trillion $1 = 1929 IQD or $0.0005184 = 1 IQD $1.09 billion 2002 = 3.0 trillion $1 = 1957 IQD or $0.0005110 = 1 IQD $1.53 billion 2003 = 3.8 trillion $1 = 3500 IQD or $0.0002857 = 1 IQD $1.09 billion 2004 = 12.254 trillion $1 = 1461 IQD or $0.0006844 = 1 IQD $8.38 billion 2005 = 14.684 trillion $1 = 1470 IQD or $0.0006803 = 1 IQD $9.99 billion 2006 = 21.080 trillion $1 = 1470 IQD or $0.0006803 = 1 IQD $14.34 billion 2007 = 23.523 trillion $1 = 1232 IQD or $0.0008117 = 1 IQD $19.09 billion 2008 = 26.956 trillion $1 = 1186 IQD or $0.0008432 = 1 IQD $22.73 billion 2009 = 34.920 trillion $1 = 1153 IQD or $0.0008673 = 1 IQD $30.28 billion 2010 = 45.438 trillion $1 = 1169 IQD or $0.0008554 = 1 IQD $38.87 billion 2011 = 60.386 trillion $1 = 1166 IQD or $0.0008576 = 1 IQD $51.79 billion 2012 = 75.466 trillion $1 = 1166 IQD or $0.0008576 = 1 IQD $64.72 billion 2013 = 87.770 trillion $1 = 1166 IQD or $0.0008576 = 1 IQD $75.27 billion 2014 = 87.377 trillion $1 = 1166 IQD or $0.0008576 = 1 IQD $74.94 billion http://www.cbi.iq/documents/Annual_2002f.pdf Perspective: The IQD peaked in value against the petro-dollar sometime in the mid 1980’s at around $3.20 per dinar and then started falling in value in the late 1980′s even before the invasion of Kuwait and the First Gulf War began because Saddam was already busy printing too much IQD money and removing too much USD foreign currency reserves at the same time. Perspective: That fall rapidly went from $3.20 per dinar to just 10 cents per dinar in 1991. Perspective: The IQD strengthened from 2003 to 2008 because Bremer and the CPA ordered that initial USD/IQD cash infusion to kick-start the economy after “Mission Accomplished” and the CBI replaced its FX reserves back to their normal levels. Perspective: The Dinar hasn’t fallen from 2008-2014 because the CBI increased its FX reserves at the same rate as new money was being printed. Perspective: Iraq has definitely been affected by chronic inflation in the last 24 years and anyone would be foolish to pretend that it hasn’t been. Inflation is the reason gold was once $20/oz. but is now $1,300/oz. Inflation is the reason why bread used to be $0.08 per loaf, but is now over $1.00. Inflation is the reason you could once buy a family car for $800 in the 1940′s, but now it costs well over $15,000, etc… Opinion: The CBI seems to have a handle on Iraqi inflation now and so the more USD FX reserves it can accumulate over and above the minimum necessary for the published exchange rate, the better it will be for speculators waiting for the exchange rate to be sustainably better than 1:1166.

Greed, Speed and Naivety are typical tools that experienced Grifters and Confidence Men might use when running either a (grab & go) short term or a (take him for everything type of) long term confidence game on a Mark. A Con Man will depend on the greed of the Mark to hurry up and get in the game before the window of opportunity shuts and it’s too late. He will also count on the Mark being naïve as to the actual possibility (or not) of the outcome described. To be sure of the Mark following his own greed toward the fleecing, the Con Man will typically put up a large showy front of Confidence to hide the sting. Not all of the pertinent popular Opinions that I’ve gathered made that original list on the first post in this thread ~ despite its length. IMO, this particular popular premise also deserves exploration: Opinion: The CBI Board of Directors, including the Chairman, the Finance Committee, including the Finance Minister and the Iraqi Prime Minister, including all his other ministers have all conspired to run a Long Con on all foreign currency speculators by depending on their foreign greed to hurry up and buy lots of dinar, so that the CBI can RV the IQD up to an exchange rate against the USD which is way beyond Iraq’s capacity to support. Iraq as the Confidence Man gets rich; but so do the foreign currency speculators, even though they are supposed to be the Marks in this deal. Perspective: The IQD continues to be a fiat currency which gets its value from a CBI declaration of the same and not from the speed (or volume) by which foreign currency speculators either buy or sell IQD. Perspective: Both speed and volume traded are too easily controlled at CBI daily auctions of both the IQD and the USD for the exchange rate to suddenly become something that the CBI hasn’t declared it to be. Perspective: That same group of so-called conspirators, the CBI, the MOF and the GOI would all have to have very experienced confidence chaps on the payroll to be able to coordinate and run such a long-term currency con on the rest of the world. Perspective: For at least the last 5 years, that same group of so-called conspirators has presented the same unified front of Neutral, Slow and Educated (as opposed to Greed, Speed and Naivety) when referring to the coming IQD RD/RV “project”. Perspective: This Opinion basically calls the top brass of the CBI, the MOF, and the GOI out as greedy, liars, and thieves without any evidence to back up such an accusation against respected, elected and well known officials with reputations for integrity. It might even border on racism with regard to how mid-eastern and specifically Iraqi officials in charge are supposedly viewed by foreign currency speculators. Perspective: This Opinion only declares that both Iraq, through the CBI, and foreign currency speculators will get rich by selling IQD holdings, but it doesn’t even begin to address how that is really possible. There is at least one other Opinion that I listed in the initial post that deserves the same scrutiny for credibility and for the same reason ~ it accuses Iraqi officials of being criminally dishonest and of being responsible for disseminating false propaganda about the IQD RD/RV, but without any evidence to support that Opinion. This is it: Opinion: Those very public announcements stating the CBI/GOI intentions regarding the future of the IQD should be ignored; because they are mostly all smoke and mirrors and those Iraqi spokesman announcing those intentions (regardless of their reputations) aren’t really telling the truth, anyway. “They” want to keep foreign speculators and Iraqi citizens in the dark regarding the CBI’s true intentions for the IQD so that the CBI and Iraq itself can realize the most profit from this up-coming redenomination/revaluation. Perspective: This Opinion only declares that the CBI and Iraq itself will realize tremendous profit from declaring a new fiat value for the IQD against the USD, but does not even hint at how it can be done. Perspective: Hard to conjure up a possible motivation for top Iraqi officials wanting to Con foreign currency speculators, who have done nothing but contribute to the economy by buying Iraq’s De La Rue banknotes with USD; but all the same, this Opinion directly accuses Iraqi officials of being liars who want to keep foreign currency speculators in the dark as to the CBI’s true intentions for the IQD. Perspective: Of course, that conspiracy to con foreigners would have to include the 30 plus international oil companies that have so recently bid on and signed very long-term contracts for Iraqi oil (at today’s rate of exchange), but have yet to pull most of it out of the ground. Perspective: After an IQD currency RV that basically raises the on-going costs of production inside Iraq as expressed in USD, what will be the reaction of those giant multi-national oil corporations? A lower oil production combined with a lower price per barrel will just about guarantee an Iraqi budget that is just too skinny to do much for the country. Perspective: The CBI has always published a fairly clear-cut plan for how it plans to proceed with the up-coming RD/RV “project”, but Opinions to the contrary never seem to explain the actual mechanics of how Iraqi and foreign currency speculators both can get rich, they just declare it; which is kind of like the fiat value declaration by the CBI ~ only different.

Thank you one and all for your kind comments about the readability of the post. I already realize that the language of popular communication can easily go sideways when conveyed across a myriad variety of understandings. It’s important to me for you folks to realize that most of the Opinions expressed in the post are not mine at all; but instead, are a gathering of the most popular and repeated Opinions about the future of the IQD that I’ve seen and heard since I started to pay any attention to them. I would say that most of the Opinions expressed in the post are at odds in very significant ways to the published intentions of both the CBI and the MOF concerning “the project to reduce the Iraqi Money Supply from Trillions to Billions”. That same official CBI Party Line of reducing the Iraqi Money Supply, along with its accompanying minimal impact plan of how the project would actually be accomplished has been put out over most mass media outlets in Iraq for at least the last 5 years ~ so we know that the educating of the Iraqi populace portion of the “project” is well on its way. Therefore, IMO, Opinions that are at odds with the official CBI Party Line deserve as much scrutiny for credibility as does the official CBI Party Line itself ~ which is the reason for the post in the first place. IMO, the Opinions with IQD RD/RV plans that are at odds with the official CBI Party Line are not necessarily alternative ways for an IQD RD/RV to go, at all; in fact, so far they have proven themselves to be just proposed plans at odds with the official CBI Party Line ~ that’s all. Perspective: A few of the Opinions express the CBI Party Line and then go on to describe a plan that is at direct odds with the CBI Party Line. Credulous, exciting and confusing all at the same time. IMO, some Opinion plans for an RD/RV, as expressed in this post, are definitely not as clear cut a plan to proceed as the Party Line “project” plan seems to be ~ and especially as it has been expressed, so far. Since buying my first De la Rue note @ 1:1500 in Iraq, I’ve been increasingly thankful for coming to the decision to keep a minimal amount of cash at the house and FedExing all the rest of it to Warka for safekeeping and growing while we wait. Since that first note, and on through any more funds sent to Warka, I feel fortunate that I’ve always paid only bank prices (or less) in the exchange from USD to IQD. Unfortunately, it’s now against Iraqi law to FedEx IQD cash to the front door of Warka Branch # 790 for Mo and Ro to deposit into an account for you. Mr. Issa informed me by email to that effect and was adamant that any more packages would be turned away back to the FedEx delivery person ~ that was close to 5 years ago. I suppose a person could fly over there, hire some off duty Blackwater types to run you over to the bank; or maybe it’s even in the Green Zone, and you could simply take a taxi from the airport. If the US Army had an account there and the honcho of the local finance regiment at the time was a Lt Colonel or even a Full Bird, then branch # 790 is probably in the Green Zone ~ but I’m just guessing. Anyway, hand the dough to Ro, shake hands with Mo, take a selfie outside (without a Kevlar and the rest of that battle rattle ~ as if you were on vacation) and boogie on back to the airport. A person would have to weigh the desire to be safe against the desire to be secure in a personal quest for the Amrikan Dream ~ financial freedom to live as a Human being with dignity on Planet Earth. All the same, it’s really not up to me to draw any final conclusions regarding the future of the value of the IQD. Every single individual IQD speculator should probably make up their own mind as to the truth. I’ve known the high of an anticipated huge windfall of wealth and watched and listened to “The Secret” DVD lots of time while pinning up “manifesting from the ethers” pictures of future possessions/desires onto the office corkboard. It’s a pretty fun high. However, as Van Morrison says: “I’m Not Feeling It Anymore”. It’s a pretty good song, if you like to bob your head and tap your feet; or maybe even do both at the same time ~ and the lyrics aren’t bad either. The scenario described whereby the CBI might want to change the IQD from being a fiat currency to one directly backed by oil was not my premise at all; but instead, just a “what if” scenario I presented that was intended to underline the probability that the CBI would never do something like that. The numbers shown are superfluous, but were included to outline an idea without much credibility at all. The scenario described was meant to emphasis the “fiat” part of the IQD so that a speculator could discern the truth when hearing any Opinion that the value of the IQD against the IQD could be directly influenced by oil ~ either now or after an RD/RV. I agree that the IQD rate against the USD clearly cannot be influenced by natural resources, including oil. Thanks for the confirmation. It kind of knocks this opinion right off the serious consideration list: Opinion: The actual Ratio of Iraqi IQD Money Supply versus the CBI held USD Currency Reserves no longer applies in Iraq because Iraq is special and has a different set of rules going on due to its hidden wealth in oil, gold and dates, etc. And probably this one as well: Opinion: Because Iraq is so special out of all the countries in the world, the CBI will not have to follow the very same international currency and finance laws that govern all the rest of the countries associated with the IMF; even though Iraq through the CBI (which is still under IMF supervision), has been doing just that ~ right up to current day. IMO, the confirmation of the IQD as a fiat currency buries this particular opinion, too: Opinion: The CBI will issue new fiat IQD currency with lower denominations on their face to exchange and coexist with the currently circulating high denomination fiat IQD currency and then the CBI will RV all circulating banknotes, both high and low denominations, as a managed float at anywhere from (US$0.10 per IQD 1) to (US$1 to IQD1) and then the demand for oil will drive its value against the USD up from there. After a lifetime under the Fed banks umbrella, and having already experienced the Fed’s international influence overseas, I am fairly well schooled in the mechanics of fiat currencies; and there are international financial rules to follow, if a country wants to get along and play well with others. IMO, that’s why financial sanctions are used so much prior to any shooting wars. On the other hand, too many international financial sanctions can start a shooting war. IMO, here are at least four examples of opinions I’ve listed in the post that are at odds with themselves and, to me, incredulous and confusing: Opinion: The CBI wants to get the high denomination notes out of circulation to reduce the total IQD money supply. The CBI can delete the zero's from the existing currency banknotes by issuing new currency with fewer zero’s on them (for exchange purposes only and at no profit or loss for either party in the exchange) and at the same time raise the value of both sets of IQD Currency against the USD; and therefore, both foreign speculators and Iraqis can still profit from such a scenario. Opinion: The CBI will most likely not delete the zeros from their currently circulating high denomination banknotes and any publications about that scenario coming out of Iraq should just be ignored ~ they are meant to fool you into selling your dinar too soon. Instead, the CBI will most likely raise the value on all notes including the simultaneously introduced new lower denominations notes. Opinion: Even if there is a huge rush to cash in and trade IQD’s for USD’s by both Iraqis and (millionaire) foreign currency speculators at the very first re-valued exchange rate published, the IQD will still continue to rise in value against the USD; even at the same time the CBI is depleting its USD Cash Reserves to pay out for the in-coming De La Rue notes. Only people in the know, such as millionaire currency speculators, understand why this is possible in Iraq, but nowhere else in the world. Opinion: Once the auctions resume, the IQD should be back on the foreign exchange platforms, and foreign speculators (unlike Iraqi citizens) will get to cash out their De La Rue high denomination notes at the same exchange rate (US$0.85 per IQD 1) that will be applied to the new lower denomination notes inside Iraq; but without having to first go through that pesky ole routine of exchanging old IQD notes for the new IQD notes. Get ready to be rich all you foreign IQD currency speculators!! Perspective: The following incongruities reveal themselves immediately: The CBI can’t RV all 90 Trillion IQD in the Iraqi Money Supply, then add more volume with new currency notes issued at the same RV rate and at the same time expect to reduce the Total Iraqi Money Supply. Does not compute, comrade. As an example (only) and assuming an RV rate of US$0.50 per IQD, the CBI could not expect to issue new IQD10 notes valued at US$5 and expect Iraqi citizens to trade or exchange them straight across for De La Rue IQD10000 notes valued at US$5000 without a little bit of rancor or resentment on one side or another, and especially if the US$4995 winner of that little encounter were able to later convert to USD. There would definitely be profit and loss in a straight exchange of two notes with 3 zeros difference in denomination, but nevertheless traded at the same exchange rate against the USD. The math can’t be denied. Opinion: My, oh my, Martha there is definitely something wrong with this here deal, eh? Perspective: Since the IQD is indeed a fiat currency, the CBI has little choice but to follow the same rules that all the other IMF members currently adhere to and that is that the Ratio of the Iraqi Total Money Supply to the CBI’s USD Reserve Currency Stash is what describes the limits and acceptable parameters inside which an IQD RV could be declared and still be acceptable within the international community ~ as it is viewed in the mainstream media outlets today. Perspective: If Iraq is indeed bound to those international fiat currency rules as a member of the IMF; whereby the internationally accepted and used Ratio of the Iraqi Total Money Supply (90 Trillion IQD) divided by the CBI USD Reserve Currency stash (90 Billion USD) is what is used to describe the parameters by which the CBI could possibly RV without a ruckus, then 1:1000 seems to be it, right now. Perspective: Using the same Ratio formula that the other IMF members are subject to, if the CBI were to reduce the Iraqi Total Money Supply from Trillions to Billions via their advertised two year currency co-existence year “project” method that they have described in the past; then when the IQD money Supply got down to 90 Billion IQD, the 90 Billion USD in the vaults would warrant an exchange rate of 1:1. IMO, the CBI has been doing a wonderful job of setting that up.

Thinking about what happens to our Warka account balances when an RD/RV occurs made me think about what happens to the ISX accounts. They’re electronic, too ~ with lots of zeros in the numbers (of shares). Typically, Warka was selling shares @ IQD 1 per share with a minimum buy-in of 200,000 shares. Cost: IQD 200,000 divided by 1166 = $171.53 Suppose a person bought (5) lots for a total cost of IQD 1,000,000 / 1166 = $857.63. If this Opinion is true: The CBI wants to get the high denomination notes out of circulation to reduce the total IQD money supply; therefore, the CBI can delete the zero's from the existing currency banknotes by issuing new currency with fewer zero’s on them (for exchange purposes only and at no profit or loss for either party in the exchange) and at the same time raise the value of both sets of IQD Currency against the USD; and that means both foreign speculators and Iraqis can still profit from such a scenario. Then, how would this apply to our ISX stock shares balances? Opinion: The 1,000,000 ISX shares, bought for $857.63 at IQD 1 per share, would still be 1,000,000 shares, but their value as expressed in USD would change. For example, if the announced rate of exchange for all 90 Trillion IQD in the Iraqi Money Supply was US$0.50 per IQD 1 then 1,000,000 shares would transcend from being worth $857.63 to being worth: 1,000,000 X $0.50 = $500,000. Opinion: Boy, Howdy! That’s a bit a profit there, eh! Enough for everyone, Habibi! Perspective: According to the CBI official announcements it seems that the 1,000,000 ISX Shares would instead have to be reduced to 1,000 shares; however, those 1000 shares would still be worth the same in USD after the RD/RV project is launched as they were before it was launched. And that amount is $857.63. If the CBI sticks to that already publicly announced drill, then the rate of exchange for those 1,000 shares (@ IQD 1 per share) will have moved from (USD 1 per IQD 1166) to (USD 1 per IQD 1.166 aka US$0.85 per IQD 1). The Iraqi Total Money Supply at today’s rate of exchange is worth 90,000,000,000,000 divided by 1166 = US$76.32 Billion. In addition the CBI has close to US$90 billion in its USD Reserve Accounts. If the CBI RV’s all 90 Trillion IQD in the Iraqi Money Supply to (US$0.50 per IQD 1), then the net worth of the Iraqi Money Supply would ascend to the lofty heights of US$45 Trillion. That’s 2.5 times what the US Government owes the Fed. That’s if that Opinion is true. Opinion: That seems like a lot of dough for the CBI to suddenly be in control of just by a fiat declaration of what they think the IQD is worth as expressed in USD. That’s kind of like the Hussein boys robbing US$920 Million in cash with a hand written note from Dad ~ only different. Perspective: The IQD is still a fiat currency, like most in the world today; but, if the CBI wanted to RV everything in the Iraqi Money Supply up to being worth US$45 Trillion (for example) and also wanted to have that amount backed by oil (@ $100/barrel); then Iraq would have to have 450 Billion barrels of oil ready to ship. At $50/barrel, Iraq would have to have 900 billion barrels of oil ready to ship. At $20/barrel, Iraq would have to have 2.25 Trillion barrels of oil ready to ship. Iraq’s is currently considered to have the 5th largest holding of oil reserves in the world at only 140 Billion barrels and most of that total is still underground. Perspective: Iraqi oil production in 2012 was 3 million barrels per day. Production is predicted to climb to 6 mb/d by 2020 and 8 mb/d by 2035. If we use the not yet reached figure of 6 million barrels/day X 365 as an average, then production might be 2.19 Billion barrels per year. 140 Billion Barrels total reserve capacity divided by 2.19 Billion Barrels annually = 64 years (approximately) to pull all that oil out of the ground. Even if Iraq went “all in” and put up its total estimated reserve capacity of 140 Billion barrels of oil (@ $100 / barrel ~ but still buried) as collateral against a USD Fed loan for the next 60 years; in order to meet its present obligation in IQD, the CBI still could not support an RV that made the 90 Trillion IQD Iraqi Money Supply that exists today worth anything more than 140,000,000,000 X $100 = US$14 Trillion. At $50 / barrel the maximum RV Iraq could support with oil backing the currency (instead of just a fiat declaration) would be US$7 Trillion. At $20 / barrel the maximum RV Iraq could support with oil backing the currency (instead of just a fiat declaration) would be US$1.4 Trillion. $14,000,000,000,000 divided by IQD 90,000,000,000,000 = US$0.16 per IQD 1. $7,000,000,000,000 divided by IQD 90,000,000,000,000 = US$0.08 per IQD 1. $1,400,000,000,000 divided by IQD 90,000,000,000,000 = US$0.02 per IQD 1. That’s if that Opinion is true and the CBI is really able to just call “all in” like that on its own fiat currency, on an international scale and without upsetting any other country in the process. Perspective: Central HCL in Baghdad actually only receives a very small portion of the end user (net) price per barrel sold and with that amount (unknown %) it has to satisfy expected returns to all provinces that contributed (and in proper proportion to their contribution); including Kurdistan, and keep enough to run the GOI and also keep enough for the CBI to buck up its USD Reserves as needed. Opinion: The natural resources in oil that Iraq would have to put up to obtain a Multi-Trillion USD loan from the Fed, just to satisfy its own fiat declaration of IQD worth against the USD, seems excessive in the extreme; as it allows the current Iraqi administration to effectively mortgage the country’s most important natural source of wealth for the next 60 years. You’d think that someone in the GOI/MOF would notice and object. Opinion: If a person had to fight a war, those Kurds would be the ones to stand with. Tough dudes; and with a relatively civilized manner about them. As we say in the west, “They’ll do to cross the river with” or in the shortened version expressed by those in charge who have to make a decision on the fly ~ “They’ll do”.

Sorry about the length of the post. Too much education involving exact descriptions and technical details as a teenager may have ruined some social abilities. I think I’ve literally been writing technical reports of one kind or another since I was 14 years old; albeit for lots of different reasons over the years ~ from basic electronics to urban survival. I’ve always felt that holding electronic dinars was going to be far easier for me than holding cash; especially since I’ve already tried to deposit IQD cash in banks in Dubai, in Hong Kong and in the USA. Nobody was interested. I worried about being deployed on a job out of country whenever the RD/RV occurred and the (possible) need for me to actually physically be somewhere else handing in the IQD cash to someone in order to get paid on this deal. Consequently, I ended up FedExing most of the IQD cash I brought out of Iraq back into Iraq to fund my Warka accounts at the #790 Baghdad Branch. This Warka downtime gives a person time to consider what actually happens to an electronic dinar account such as a savings account or even an ISX equities account in the event of an RD/RV. The “Opinions” I gathered generally refer to physical currency banknotes, but what about electronic accounts. Do the same rules apply? For example, if this Opinion is true: The probable scenario for the upcoming redenomination/revalue will be that the existing high denomination De La Rue IQD banknotes will have their value raised; plus at the same time new IQD currency of smaller denomination notes will be put into circulation and with the same new RV exchange rate that the higher denomination notes are given. People will continue to trade in their De La Rue high denomination notes for USD cash and eventually, only the 25,000 notes will be pulled from circulation while all the rest of the existing higher denomination De La Rue notes from IQD10000 on down will be left in circulation to co-exist indefinitely with the newer lower denomination notes which will be in denominations all the way down to IQD 1. Then what happens to our Warka account balances? Perspective: Pulling only the IQD25000 notes from circulation doesn’t seem like enough to reduce the total money supply from trillions to billions. With the present rate of 1:1166, Warka makes about 1% whenever a depositor moves funds from their IQD savings to their USD savings at their exchange rate of 1179. So, if a depositor wanted to move IQD 1 Million from his IQD savings account to his USD Savings account, then: 1,000,000 divided by 1179 = $848.18. Opinion: If according to Opinion there is an equal, across the board, USD exchange rate increase for both the De La Rue high denomination notes and the new low denomination notes at the same time; then it would only seem fair that Warka account balances get the same rate and at the same time and with no loss of zeros in the process. Perspective: If an across the board exchange rate of $0.50 to IQD 1 was launched; and all currency denominations were in play at the same rate, then the exchange rate at Warka would have to reflect the same thing. So then, moving that same IQD Million to USD: IQD1,000,000 X 0.50 = $500,000. Hard to fathom that Warka could actually pay out that kind of rate from its own USD Reserves, be they electronic or cash and not run out of dough. Warka would have to buy USD from the CBI with its own IQD balances in order to supply depositors with either USD cash or electronic transfers on demand. That’s if that Opinion were true. Perspective: Just think of the lucky Iraqis who have Warka accounts and don’t have to bother first exchanging their high denomination De La Rue IQD10000 ($5000) notes for the new IQD10 ($5) notes before being able to exchange for USD. And for the unlucky Iraqis the exchange to USD can only happen if there is a local bank that hasn’t been robbed already and which has the USD cash to accommodate. One Iraqi neighbor has cash only and one has minimal cash and a Warka account when the RV is launched. Mr. Lucky with the Warka account might have to move if his neighbor is too mad at him for being so smart with his ATM card and all. If that Opinion were true. Perspective: According to the way the CBI and the MOF spokesmen have put it, the “project” to reduce the Iraqi Money Supply by exchanging circulating currency notes from high to low denominations will mean that electronic accounts will have their total balances reduced by 3 zeros being removed from the end of the amounts. At the same time, the exchange rate will move 3 decimal points to the left so that in the end the USD worth of the electronic IQD account will be the same after the project is launched as it was before the project was launched ~ expressed in USD. We have been told to expect no loss and no gain for all electronic IQD account holders ~ whether Iraqi or foreign. The affordability of the “project” will be in the cost of the new currency, new electronic outlets and in educating the public; but the no loss/no gain aspect would mean that the CBI doesn’t intend to pay out like Las Vegas slot machine when the “project” is launched. That’s what the official Iraqi spokesmen have been saying, anyway.

Roger that, DoD. Tango Mike (Thanks very much) for the follow-up. Phlip out.

It looks like the more popular version of a predictable future for the value of the IQD has come down to simply “Opinion” ~ but without much regard to very public statements made by very well-known Iraqi Banking and GOI representatives since at least 2009, all of whom have reputations and credibility at stake in Iraq. Having had a Vanuatu Credit Union account in USD, a Japanese Yen account in both USD & Yen, a Hong Kong based Hang Seng Hong Kong Dollar Checking account, a Hang Seng savings account capable of holding funds in six different currencies and now a Warka account with at least two different currency accounts available, I figure I’ve paid some dues and learned a few things about international banking along the way. The Vanuatu account supposedly got hacked, but I’m certain it was by the very same person who started the Ponzi scheme in the first place ~ before (successfully) bailing out. Fool me once……….. The Japanese yen accounts were just regular checking and savings accounts while in-country and got closed when I moved ~ currencies in both Yen and the USD. Could have had a savings account in Euros, but didn’t. The Hong Kong based Hang Seng accounts supported a Hong Kong based International Corporation (Hong Kong has a reasonable cap on corporate taxation) and I closed them when the corporation became too expensive to maintain while waiting on a windfall of enormous wealth. Costs for Hong Kong Resident Agents, Nominated Directors and the annual bookkeeping and filing for the Hong Kong Internal Revenue eventually grew (over a 5 year period) from under $1000 per year to over $2000 per year ~ just so that I could maintain an international façade that was ready to absorb an overnight windfall of wealth. It became a real pain to keep up with all the official requirements especially since my Resident Agents/Bookkeepers/Nominal Directors moved location almost every year. Not sure why. By the time I finally closed the bank accounts, de-registered the corporation and had the remaining funds sent to me, the extra fees had come out of the woodwork to the tune of at least $1500 more than the usual annual fee; even though I timed the closing well in advance to try to avoid extra fees. I still have the names and contact information (phone, email, address) of at least two agents in Belize whose business it is to help foreigners who wish to take advantage of Belize law by introducing them to Belize bank managers, to Belize resident agents, and to Belize lawyers who can help them set up Trusts, International Holding Companies, obtain Passports, etc. Haven’t yet had the need to contact the Belize dudes ~ still not wealthy enough to consider it. Along the way of this international financial education I learned a few things about off-shore corporations, offshore bank accounts, unbreakable trusts, reliable venues for American LLC’s, and quite a myriad number of ways to represent yourself internationally in this age of corporations and internet identities. I also learned about currencies and how they operate internationally. For example, I was in Japan when the King of Siam (Thailand) decided to float the Thai Baht on the international currency exchange platforms free of any pegs (like to the Japanese Yen or China’s Yuan Renmembi) and consequently caused most Asian currencies taking advantage of the low cost “Made in Thailand” label to take a dive against the USD. The King could do that because technically speaking, being the King, the entire Thai Money Supply belonged to him ~ like a personal bank account. I had no choice but to deal with the reality of the Yen taking a dive from 85 Yen per USD 1, down to 145 Yen per USD 1. Ouch!! That Japanese bubble was due to pop anyway, but still!! It ended up costing me about $35K to $40K over a 5 year period. Anyway, here is my collection of Opinions and Perspectives on the IQD that I’ve seen expressed (and not just here on DV) and of course my Two Cents Worth will probably creep into the language of interpreting those Opinions and the Perspectives into the following narratives: Opinion: Those very public announcements stating the CBI/GOI intentions regarding the future of the IQD should be ignored; because they are mostly all smoke and mirrors and those Iraqi spokesman announcing those intentions (regardless of their reputations) aren’t really telling the truth, anyway. “They” want to keep foreign speculators and Iraqi citizens in the dark regarding the CBI’s true intentions for the IQD so that the CBI and Iraq itself can realize the most profit from this up-coming redenomination/revaluation. Perspective: The CBI (still under IMF supervision) has always publicly emphasized through different spokesman that one of its most important financial goals is to reduce Iraq’s Total Money Supply ~ close to 90 Trillion Dinar ~ from trillions down to 90 Billion Dinar. Three zeros less. By doing so, the CBI board of directors can then decide to increase the value of the IQD against the USD using its current USD Reserve ~ close to 90 Billion USD ~ to help determine a new revalued exchange rate for the IQD vs the USD (possibly even a rate of one to one against the new currency). This is the first time in decades of Iraqi history that the official currency has had this many zeros on it and nobody likes it; especially since it was Bremer and company that added the zeros after Saddam and sons absconded with all the USD and wreaked the Iraqi Central Bank’s USD Foreign Reserve balance. Opinion: Most Iraqis would prefer the IQD currency to be closer in denomination to the available USD denominations now in circulation and at the same time they’d like to have the IQD have close to the purchasing power of the USD. This is a matter of national/ethnic pride more than anything else. Opinion: Right now, with that ratio of IQD Money Supply (90 Trillion) to its USD Currency Reserve (90 Billion), the CBI could easily increase the official value of the IQD against the USD from 1166:1 up to 1000:1; but instead has chosen to (successfully) fight in-country inflation and promote de-dollarization instead. Perspective: Perhaps there are some currency speculators who are holding physical IQD banknotes, but who don’t really understand that both the IQD and the USD are fiat currencies and that the Ratio of the amount of IQD in the Iraqi Money Supply verses the amount of USD being held in the Iraqi/CBI vaults in Reserve is actually what is used to help determine the exchange rate between the IQD and the USD. The Ratio doesn’t necessarily “establish” the official rate of exchange, but it is certainly instrumental in determining what rate of exchange both countries and the rest of the world might find acceptable. As evidence that this is exactly the way currency exchange rates work a person need look no further than Iraq itself at the time these De la Rue notes were first issued. In 2003 Coalition Forces invaded Iraq and Saddam left town. On the way out of his Baghdad Compound (now part of the Green Zone) Saddam ordered his sons to rob the old Iraqi Central Bank on their own way out of town. Saddam also took his entire stash of USD cash with him when he left. Because the Hussein boys successfully committed the largest bank heist in recorded human history, (US$920 Million), the old Iraqi Central Bank lost its counterbalance in USD foreign currency reserves ~ compared to the IQD currency it had in circulation ~ and went immediately bankrupt, insolvent and un-savable and the foreign exchange rate jumped from 1:1957 to 1:3500 / USD to IQD. In 2004, Bremer and crew brought the exchange rate back up to around 1:1460 with literally plane loads of newly printed USD and IQD banknotes being put into circulation. The CBI, chartered in 2004, took over the management of the IQD from there. That same Ratio is what helps determine currency exchange rates between Central Banks for virtually all fiat currencies all over the world and currency traders use very small up or down changes between one currency exchange and another to make a profit. The IQD to USD exchange rate has been pegged at 1166 to 1 for the last 4 years and before that since 2004, under the guidance of the newly charted CBI, has always steadily increased in value against the USD. Opinion: These last 4 years represent an admirable control of inflation by a fairly new central bank ~ the CBI is only a decade old now. Opinion: The actual Ratio of Iraqi IQD Money Supply versus the CBI held USD Currency Reserves no longer applies in Iraq because Iraq is special and has a different set of rules going on due to its hidden wealth in oil, gold and dates, etc. Opinion: Because Iraq is now a truly sovereign country, and out from under UN Chapter 7 sanctions, the CBI can set the exchange rate between the IQD and the USD to whatever it wants it to be; without permission or approval of the IMF, the World Bank, the Fed, the Bank of International Settlements or the Bank of England. The fact that Iraq is one of the founding member countries of the IMF doesn’t matter; the CBI can still just do whatever it wants to with its own currency. Opinion: Because Iraq is so special out of all the countries in the world, the CBI will not have to follow the very same international currency and finance laws that govern all the rest of the countries associated with the IMF; even though Iraq through the CBI (which is still under IMF supervision), has been doing just that ~ right up to current day. Opinion: The CBI wants to get the high denomination notes out of circulation to reduce the total IQD money supply. The CBI can delete the zero's from the existing currency banknotes by issuing new currency with fewer zero’s on them (for exchange purposes only and at no profit or loss for either party in the exchange) and at the same time raise the value of both sets of IQD Currency against the USD; and therefore, both foreign speculators and Iraqis can still profit from such a scenario. Opinion: The probable scenario for the upcoming redenomination/revalue will be that the existing high denomination De La Rue IQD banknotes will have their value raised; plus at the same time new IQD currency of smaller denomination notes will be put into circulation and with the same new RV exchange rate that the higher denomination notes are given. People will continue to trade in their De La Rue high denomination notes for USD cash and eventually, only the 25,000 notes will be pulled from circulation while all the rest of the existing higher denomination De La Rue notes from IQD10000 on down will be left in circulation to co-exist indefinitely with the newer lower denomination notes which will be in denominations all the way down to IQD 1. Perspective: According to Iraqi mainstream media, when the new currency becomes available, Iraqi citizens will have little choice but to go to their local banks or currency traders to trade in their high denomination De La Rue banknotes for the new CBI-issued lower denomination banknotes. A financially aware Iraqi citizen (make that most of the population) will undoubtedly ask for USD at their local bank or exchange, since that is all that has been available for trade right up until……yesterday? That Iraqi citizen will then undoubtedly be told that he would first have to trade his high denomination Bremer era, soon to be extinct, De La Rue notes for the brand new currency at a direct ratio of 1000 old to 1 new. He will be told that those new lower denomination IQD notes can be had either in cash right there on the spot or from an ATM machine via debit/credit card later ~ as they are needed. If that particular local Iraqi bank has the USD available, that particular Iraqi citizen might get to have the option of trading his newly acquired lower denomination IQD for USD at the newly announced exchange rate. If that’s how it goes, and the announced rate is say $0.50 or 50 cents on the dollar ~ affecting both IQD currencies simultaneously ~ then all the Iraqi citizens trying to trade in cash banknotes (in a mostly cash society) are going to be told that they must first turn in their IQD10000 notes (supposedly worth US$5,000 to foreign speculators) for a new IQD10 note worth only US$5. Certainly no profit there. That might tend to make a person mad if he was stuck in Iraq with no other choice; and especially in light of a definite, selective, lack of profit for Iraqis themselves, in a deal that seems to favor only foreign currency speculators holding high denomination De La Rue IQD banknotes outside of Iraq. Will foreign speculators have to go through the same drill as an Iraqi (trading from old notes, to new notes, to USD) in order to get paid? If so, where is the profit in that? Opinion: The exchange of the old currency for the new has nothing to do with value. During an exchange period lasting anywhere from 90 days up to two years where nobody in Iraq loses anything by just exchanging the notes, foreign investors will also be able to exchange old currency for new and then watch the value of the new notes climb against the USD (within the time limit of whatever exchange period actualizes) until such time as they will be able to cash in the new lower denomination notes for USD at no loss. Perspective: 90 days was the time given for the last Iraqi IQD redenomination exchange period when Bremer and his boys added the zeros to the currency and this transition period was necessarily short because of the war. According to the published CBI plan for the project, a “peacetime” redenomination scenario will be scheduled with a minimum of 2 years allowed to exchange high denomination notes for the new lower denomination notes Most foreign investors holding IQD cash paid close to US$1000 per IQD Million (including shipping) at a time when bank prices were near US$855 per IQD Million. There will also be an additional fee to exchange old IQD for new IQD, plus the additional fee to finally exchange new IQD for USD. Even if those last two exchanges (from old to new and then new to USD) were made for free with absolutely no dealer/bank fees involved, there’s still the $1000 (cost) - $855 (sell) = $145 (loss) per IQD Million to make up for in the cash-in exchange rate (within the exchange period time limit) before most foreign cash speculators can expect to cash out with no net loss. In order for that to happen the new IQD lower denomination notes would have to rise in value against the USD from the initial outing of (US$0.85 per IQD 1) up to (US$1 per IQD 1) within the 2 years’ time allowed for the exchange. This at a time when the exchange rate has been steady at 1:1166 for the past 4 years. At a time when oil prices are plunging to 5 year lows, causing the GOI Budget to be too skinny to pay Kuwait the last US$4 Billion Iraq still owes in reparations for the 1990 invasion. Instead, that final payment has been put off until 2016. Meanwhile, Iraq and Kuwait are strengthening diplomatic ties and not just because they share a shipping port on the north end of the Gulf and a lake of oil under the sand. This repayment of reparations is still being monitored by the Security Council at the UN. Opinion: Before issuing the new lower denomination IQD banknotes which will then be exchanged for the existing De La Rue notes now in circulation, the GOI will have to educate its own citizens and the rest of the world about its proposed project plan via mass media; and that education period may cause a short delay between the time the new currency is released (with its increased value against the USD) and the time when foreign speculators might actually cash in the De La Rue notes they are holding for these new IQD notes and then eventually for USD. Opinion: During this delay the CBI may temporarily halt daily auctions, which could mean no USD will be allowed out of the CBI during that time. It could also mean that during that time no banks outside of Iraq will be buying IQD with USD ~ since they can’t expect to turn any IQD notes purchased into the CBI to exchange for USD. Opinion: Once the auctions resume, the IQD should be back on the foreign exchange platforms, and foreign speculators (unlike Iraqi citizens) will get to cash out their De La Rue high denomination notes at the same exchange rate (US$0.85 per IQD 1) that will be applied to the new lower denomination notes inside Iraq; but without having to first go through that pesky ole routine of exchanging old IQD notes for the new IQD notes. Get ready to be rich all you foreign IQD currency speculators!! Opinion: The CBI will issue new fiat IQD currency with lower denominations on their face to exchange and coexist with the currently circulating high denomination fiat IQD currency and then the CBI will RV all circulating banknotes, both high and low denominations, as a managed float at anywhere from (US$0.10 per IQD 1) to (US$1 to IQD1) and then the demand for oil will drive its value against the USD up from there. Perspective: The very public statements to the press about the future of the IQD by Iraqi Finance Ministers, CBI Directors and Iraqi Finance Committee spokesmen as well as the published statements from the same sources have all been put out there with the same coordinated message; which is, that the CBI wants to reduce the size of the Iraqi total money supply, eliminate the zeros on the face of its currency, raise the value of the IQD against the USD, reduce Iraqi inflation and de-dollarize Iraq. The last prediction issued by the CBI Board of Directors spokesman in the fall of 2014 was that the project to eliminate the zeros could not begin until at least 2016 due to the tightened GOI budget and the continued lack of stability in the country. When the stability of the country allows it, the project to eliminate the zeros on the nominal face of Iraqi currency will proceed. The project will proceed with the continued education of the Iraqi public by mass media and local bankers and currency exchanges to prepare for the issuance of new currency that has been upgraded with 3 languages on the notes, with three zeros less than the currently circulating Bremer era De La Rue notes and with improved security features to prevent counterfeiting. This new currency will also have proportionally more value against the USD than the existing currency. These new lower denomination notes will be traded directly for the currently issued notes at a ratio of 1:1000; and at no cost to either party involved in the exchange. Each note in the 1:1000 exchange will be of equal value as expressed in USD. For example: The currently circulating IQD10000 note, at the current exchange rate of is 1 USD to 1166 IQD is worth $8.58. A newly issued IQD10 note will be able to trade for either a circulating IQD10000 note or for US$8.58, because it will have had its value against the USD proportionally raised so that it too is worth US$8.58. That would mean that the new currency will have an exchange rate against the USD of US$1.00 per IQD 1.166 while the existing currency would continue at the current rate of 1:1166. This coexistence of the currencies is projected to last for a 2 year period or until the CBI is sufficiently satisfied that the Iraqi Total Money Supply, through the systematic removal and destruction of the large denomination banknotes, has been reduced enough for the CBI to feel confident enough to continue to raise the value of the IQD up towards 1:1 and thereby have a chance at the de-dollarization of Iraq. Opinion: By the time any on par (1USD:1IQD) exchange rate happens, the Bremer era, De La Rue IQD banknotes will be out of circulation and will no longer be honored or redeemed. Opinion: The CBI will most likely not delete the zeros from their currently circulating high denomination banknotes and any publications about that scenario coming out of Iraq should just be ignored ~ they are meant to fool you into selling your dinar too soon. Instead, the CBI will most likely raise the value on all notes including the simultaneously introduced new lower denominations notes. Opinion: There are USD millionaires who have purchased US$ Millions worth of IQD and are now holding IQD Billions and they should know what they are doing, since they are already USD millionaires. If millionaires who can afford to speculate with US$ Millions think that there is a chance to make a profit speculating on the IQD, then it should be all right for the less well-heeled speculator, shouldn’t it? After all, these millionaires didn’t make their millions by being stupid about money, did they? Opinion: Even if there is a huge rush to cash in and trade IQD’s for USD’s by both Iraqis and (millionaire) foreign currency speculators at the very first re-valued exchange rate published, the IQD will still continue to rise in value against the USD; even at the same time the CBI is depleting its USD Cash Reserves to pay out for the in-coming De La Rue notes. Only people in the know, such as millionaire currency speculators, understand why this is possible in Iraq, but nowhere else in the world. Opinion: People in the know such as Accredited Investors and Professional Financial Advisors understand about protecting their assets; so it pays to be prepared for an overnight windfall of wealth by following their example or the example of millionaires when preparing for a sudden windfall of wealth. Perspective: Even prudent (non-millionaire) people have been known to run out of funds diligently earmarked for the maintenance of offshore corporations, bank accounts, trusts, etc. which were set up, kept open and prepared to receive and deal with a sudden windfall of wealth; and that happened while they are waiting on that very same windfall of wealth. All qualified and certified financial advisors and professional investors are not necessarily sufficiently schooled in the international rules governing currencies; despite having passed extensive testing to be qualified and licensed equity traders. Both the IQD and the USD are fiat currencies backed by absolutely nothing more than their own Central Bank’s declaration of worth; neither one is backed by oil, or gold, or silver. In fact the accepted value of the USD and therefore the IQD (which is pegged to the USD) is only ‘reflected’ in the spot prices of either silver or gold. Those spot prices are kind of benchmarks to help estimate the purchasing power of the USD (and the IQD) at any given time. The Fed declares what its notes (promises to pay) are worth and the CBI gets to decide what its own notes (promises to pay) are worth relative to the petro-dollar, aka the USD. Iraq is still the nominal head of the 22 member Arab League of Nations and so anything financial coming out of Baghdad ~ good and bad ~ will be affecting the entire region. Besides Iraq, these countries all call their own fiat currencies, the Dinar: Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Serbia. Besides the Iraqi IQD, both the Bahrain Dinar and the Jordan Dinar are pegged to the USD and Iraq is increasing its diplomatic relationships with Kuwait, again. With these relationships already established and on-going it appears that any major RV of the IQD against the USD might also immediately and directly affect the Kuwaiti Dinar, the Jordanian Dinar and the Bahraini Dinar all of whose central banks are CBI’s immediate neighbors in the region. To be neighborly, the CBI might feel the need to inform those other central banks (and trading partners) that their own currencies were about to be affected by the CBI’s plan to redenominate/revalue the IQD against the USD. Opinion: It’s probably not possible to keep such an IQD RD/RV event a secret given all the trading partners having to be in on the action.

DoD I apologize in advance for covering any topic that you’re already fully aware of. Beware of boredom, but in answer to your question: I think that the ISX is set for huge growth with or without a significant RD/RV and IMO is probably going to turn out to be the best use of investment funds in this whole IQD deal. My take on Warka is that pressure has to be put on the CBI Board of Directors to obey the Iraqi Financial Supreme Court Order and restore Warka to full financial health and reputation before the bank will be able to afford to really open up with full services for foreign depositors again. Iraq continues to be a member of the IMF and so the CBI must continue to attempt to conform to the same financial transparency rules that all the other IMF member country’s central banks have to follow. So far, the CBI even after over 10 years of operation is still struggling to come up to IMF standards; but, has been allowed to operate within the IMF umbrella on a year to year and renewable temporary basis. The USA is still a member of the IMF and its central bank, the Fed, happens to be the dominate central bank of all of the central banks in the IMF. The Fed sets the policy and all the rest of the central banks tied to the IMF are obliged to follow suit because of the widespread use of the Fed’s banknotes (promises to pay) around the globe. What that boils down to IMO, is that for Iraq to once again become a full-fledged and accepted member of the IMF, with a Forex Tradable International Currency the CBI has to become fully compliant with the Fed/IMF rules. Only then, IMO, can the CBI even think about putting its plan into action to revalue/redenominate its currency. Whenever it does, the CBI is going to need Warka and its infrastructure of 120 Branches and 350 ATM machines to complete the task. Looking at this deal from our perspective, I’d say that whenever the CBI pays up and fixes Warka’s reputation sufficiently enough so that they are fully operational again; then we’ll know that the CBI at least has a sufficient infrastructure in place to warrant the start of any re-denomination/revalue project. ATM’s everywhere, again! At that point there may be a window to check your equity holdings through Warka’s ISX Department prior to any re-denomination/revalue being launched. The last prediction I’ve heard of expressed by a CBI Director/Spokesman was that the “project” to re-denominate the currency had been put off until at least 2016 due to the tight budget and the instability of the country. At that time, we are told, the CBI will reassess its options regarding the budget and the stability and decide whether things have calmed down enough to proceed or not. Unfortunately, other than an upcoming need to fix its currency (when it will actually need Warka’s help) the CBI may continue to just ignore the court order to restore Warka; especially since there doesn’t seem to be any higher authority to make them comply. As soon as the US presidency changed hands from Bush to Barry, Maliki lost “W” as his mentor and didn’t really know what he was doing internationally ~ he just didn’t know how to act right, really. Instead, he went all tribal and clannish and tried to build a power base as a wannabe Saddam ~ only with a Shiite strong man at the top this time around ~ and boy, were those Sunnis gonna get it now!! He tasked every Iraqi political and financial entity he could control to squash all things Sunni and that included Warka Bank. He was still running amok when he got bum-rushed to the door and kicked out on his ear. The new prime minister has been quoted as saying something to the affect that he doesn’t want to be judged too harshly about what he can do immediately; especially with IS and everything else going on. In his estimation, it’s going to take him at least half his term (2 years) just to unravel the Maliki created Shiite only power structure enough to allow sufficient Sunni participation, so that everybody starts to calm down about being represented properly. Enough to make a strong man weep. In the end it will be Warka Bank’s big footprint of physical branches and ATM’s and the Bunnia Family’s century old business survival techniques that saves it from going under. Just figure that you’re betting with the Bunnias while you’re betting on Iraq and I don’t see any better way to take this gamble. Meanwhile, I track my ISX pics on an excel spreadsheet and have ready-made stock purchase orders stored digitally and ready to execute when Warka ISX is a go. You might look at this downtime as a chance to really review the stocks you’ve already bought and track some new ones while you’re at it. I’d bet my bottom dinar that ole Mo and Ro at Warka Bank don’t like this downtime any better than we do. He’s a Managing Director and she’s the “go to gal” in Customer Service. Mo’s got a personal stake in this deal and so does Ro ~ at the very least their reputations. They’re not going to let us down if they can help it and I think if we can just get ahold of ourselves for a couple more years we might be able to move some equities, buy some CD’s and even wire something back ~ just for drill.

Unirod I’m not affiliated with Warka Bank other than being a depositor who has experienced Warka’s services to the fullest of what I needed from an offshore account at the time when they were operating at full capacity. I’ve successfully FedExed cash and documents directly to the physical address for our Baghdad (790) Branch at least a half dozen times and every time received emails back from either Mr. Issa or Rowaida Mohammed in the International Foreign Relation’s Department’s Customer Service confirming the receipt of the package, the exact amounts and the execution of any other requests enclosed; including purchasing CD’s and an E-banking Subscription. It made me sure that they are physically there and were really interested in giving the best service they could, so I’ve wired funds to my Warka accounts and also wired funds back to my home bank. I’ve gone through the required routine to get my ISX trading number with the Warka ISX Department. I have confidence that Warka will not stiff its foreign depositors; precisely because the Bunnia Family is the 56% owner of Warka Bank and those folks have businesses going back over 100 years. They currently control at least 100 companies internationally and have proven themselves capable of fending off attacks from the CBI and the pressures from foreign bank takeovers attempting to merge with them as 51% dominate partners. While Warka was being declared insolvent and was saddled with an unnecessary CBI appointed CPA firm to act as Guardian, the Bunnia Clan didn’t take it meekly lying down. Instead they had a battery of lawyers suing the CBI for damages and for causing the insolvency and its accompanying less than desirable reputation in the first place. Can you imagine any bank in the Fed system actually suing the Fed and winning? Well, the Bunnias beat the CBI all the way through the Iraqi Financial Supreme Court; including all appeals filed by the CBI, and consequently 15 months ago the CBI was ordered to deposit enough funds to Warka Bank to bring it back to full solvency. The compensation will also include the IQD 500 Billion in reserve which is now required of all banks in the CBI system ~ just to keep the doors open. The CBI was also ordered to restore Warka Bank’s reputation as a solid reliable (private) bank in Iraq. The CBI is still influenced by the Shiite dominated GOI and MOF and the Bunnias are still Sunni so there seems to be the unwritten rule in play that allows the CBI to ignore the order and/or continue with whatever appeals process they can get away with while delaying the inevitable ~ that is, that they’re going to pay up and fix Warka’s reputation. As you said Unirod, they are deep pocketed people and they are not about to knuckle under. They may be one of just a few Iraqi banks who can actually fight the CBI and win. My feeling is that Warka is in minimal survival mode while they wait for the CBI to fork over. IMO, they’re not just trying to make a point with the CBI. They have shut off access to services to foreign depositors as a way of compartmentalizing their obligations enough to remain open to their Iraqi customers and still deposit earned interest to the foreign savings accounts every six months. They haven’t faded into the woodwork with all the foreign depositor accounts and that includes the US Army’s account which was at about US$5.2 Million worth of IQD when Warka went insolvent in the Spring of 2011 (or thereabouts). At plus or minus US$364,000 earned in interest since then; I imagine that the Army will be able to check its account in the summer of 2015 and see approximately US$6 Million worth of IQD in the account. Meanwhile, all other foreign depositors are still accumulating compounded interest in their savings accounts, too. I don’t blame you for wanting out and wanting to switch brokers with the ISX, I’m sick of the delay in services, too. No matter whose fault it is. However, I have yet to find an investment with a match to the ROI that I’m getting with Warka and that doesn’t include any rise in value from an RV or RD. Anything coming as a result of either of those two events will be an extra bonus. I’ve already experienced a 24% bump in value from when I first purchased dinar and another 18.9% on top of that just from compound interest accumulating over this almost 4 year lockdown period. Not sure what the aggregate overall percentage of a return on investment would be because I’ve moved funds both ways and CD interest rates are mixed in with the growth during the (actual) 24% rise in value of the currency itself, but I’m satisfied that betting with the Bunnias has been better that putting the funds into either gold or silver and way better than having a Cypress account where 60% of the account can disappear to help pay national debts. The Belize dollar is pegged at two to one with the USD, but I haven’t sought out a Belize Agent to find out if I could transfer my Warka funds to a bank in Belize and earn any more than I already am with Warka. When the time comes that Warka is open for business again, I hope I’m still in a position to let it ride and grow into an interest generating machine that may someday feed a Trust account every six months. Kind of like a self-made annuity ~ only different. Any increase in value from an IQD currency revaluation will automatically be reflected in the transfer exchange rate Warka offers for us to convert IQD back to USD in preparation for a wire transfer of outgoing USD. When Warka’s ISX Department is again opened for business, a person holding Iraqi Equities through the brokerage of the Warka ISX Department will be able to view his stocks and either buy or sell again as he wants to. Because of all the attesting a person has to go through to even get a Warka ISX Department trading number you can be sure Warka has not forgotten who you are or what stocks are in your name. IMO it will definitely pay to track your equities growth (or decline) on the ISX website and at the same time make sure your equities are still even being traded. Some aren’t traded all the time.

mdllfr8dawg You’re certainly welcome ~ as is everyone else who benefited from this information. Glad to help. Not quite sure what you mean by broke the code, but would be very interested to find out. It might be a huge help to others who are still struggling for access to their accounts if you posted what steps you took to finally be able to login to your Warka accounts. That’s such great news! If you could perhaps copy and paste email threads or responses from Mr. Issa to outline your method; then that too would be helpful & informative. It might pay to take the time to take care and always X out or somehow protect you own personal information when forwarding intelligence through cyber space like that. Did you start from scratch, having had no previously working password? Or, had you simply let a previously working password expire? Not trying to embarrass with the details, but I think there are more than a few folks in either one of those positions who would greatly appreciate knowing a solid method for getting/restoring E-banking services from Warka and especially if that method was applied recently. I would certainly like to know too, because I have at least one friend in each situation ~ one never had a password and one let a password expire. Maybe you should start a new topic called: How I recently renewed/started my Warka E-banking Services. Or something like that. Something this important ~ on-line access to our Warka accounts ~ shouldn’t be left to a kind of cyber space crap shoot as to whether or not we are successful in doing so. Having a valid password is our only link to our funds and IMO should be maintained no matter the actual amount on balance.

I see a net 3% of my IQD account balance on July 1, 2014 posted to my account as interest earned for the last six months. I see a net 1.5% posted to my USD account for the same time period. Do that twice and you have an actual annual net interest earned of 6% for IQD and 3% for USD. That 6% seems to fall right in the middle of the old rate of 7% and the new 5%. That 3% seems to fall right in the middle of the old rate of 4% and the new 2%. Whatever the case, if compared to what local banks have on offer ~ even for 18 month CD’s ~ then depositing to Warka still seems like the best overseas account decision. Now, if some of that interest could be wired home to celebrate with, I’d be even more satisfied with the decision to bet with the Bunnias and deposit at Warka.

6ly It’s my belief that the Warka Bank ISX Department uses a separately named brokerage firm with the proper Iraqi license; allowing it to move ISX equities either way ~ buy or sell ~ and that particular brokerage firm either services Warka clients exclusively or is owned by Warka as a subsidiary. Either that or the ISX Department itself has the proper Iraqi licensed Staff Members to trade your equities for you ~ either way trading is tightly controlled by Warka because of the responsibility the staff feels in properly executing your trading requests. Warka’s brokerage moves are in turn controlled by the actual tradability of any ISX stock you select. To save themselves any future grief, Warka has suspended any ISX trading through their in-house brokerage firm until such time as Warka’s lawyers (who are still at it BTW) have finally pursued the case they won against the CBI (over a year ago) to the point where Warka actually gets paid enough to be solvent enough for foreign central banks (like the Fed) to once again allow correspondence banks (like Citibank) to channel funds both ways. When that happens, Warka staff will be answering emails and the ISX tags will once again be available for you to view your ISX accounts on-line when you log-in to your account. It’s unfortunate, but foreign depositors to Warka now have to wait on international banking acceptance in order for Warka to be able to service its foreign depositors once again. Warka in turn is waiting on the CBI to fulfill its obligation (under Iraqi law). The CBI in turn is still struggling to fully comply with IMF banking transparency rules in order to be taken off the temporary operating lists and be fully accepted internationally again ~ yet the Shiite dominated CBI Board of Directors still feels it can undermine the Sunni owned Warka. Remember all the things you had to do to actually get your ISX trading number with Warka? That wasn’t for nothing. I’m positive Warka knows who you are and what you’re holding and they intend to honor that when business returns to normal. Meanwhile, track your stocks on the Iraqi Stock Exchange to see if they are trading higher or lower than when you bought. Man, I hope that all the waiting that dealing with Warka/Iraq has caused has at least added to our cosmic/karmic character growth accounts. Actually, I know it has ~ but it’s still not very much fun. Will we get to see a physical 3rd dimensional reward for that patience or is such a reward for next lifetime ~ or maybe even catch-up from previous lives? Whatever the case, I’d sure like to see a return to normal for Warka so that at least that part of this life isn’t so anxious or chaotic.

emerging1 Because of language barriers and the nuisance of answering so many different emails, I suspect the Warka staff is depending heavily on the latest news streaming on the home page of the Warka website to be the answer to whatever depositors might need to know and therefore have stopped answering most emails. Hell, with all the rabble rousing going on over there the Warka staff could be confined to their homes or bomb bunkers for all we know. Because of the insolvency issue and having to wait on the CBI, Warka Bank still cannot do the following with its frozen depositor accounts: Sell a Certificate of Deposit to a depositor Allow an Internal Transfer of Funds from one Warka account to another Allow a purchase or sale of ISX stocks through their in-house brokerage Allow outgoing funds via any of the Warka bank cards. Allow any letters of credit to be established No one will be able to transfer USD funds out of Warka to their home banks or to buy stocks without an internationally approved official stamp of transparent financial solvency from the various central banks and countries that have allowed Warka to do business in the past (especially the FED with all its FACTA entitlement attitudes). I doubt the Warka staff will answer emails about the ISX since they can neither sell nor buy any Iraqi stocks for you until they are fully open for business again.

If you’ve never applied for Warka’s E-banking Services and are sure that Warka has never sent you a temporary password with which to login to your accounts on-line (changing the temporary password along the way) then you might try using the two following suggested examples to copy and paste and type in your own information ~ where indicated ~ tweak the language as you feel like and apply for a brand new password with which to get started. Here they are: ________________________________________________________ Application for E-banking Services To: Warka Bank for Investment and Finance Attn: Mr. Ashraf Amr [email protected]<script cf-hash='f9e31' type="text/javascript"> /* */</script> Re: Application for E- banking Services for Account number 790/000000/1/2521/0 Dear Mr. Ashraf Amr: I, (Type Your Full Name Here), respectfully request Warka Bank for Investment and Finance to kindly issue me a temporary password so that I might use Warka Bank’s E-Banking Services. I, (Type Your Full Name Here), hereby grant Warka Bank for Investment and Finance full authorization and permission to send my new temporary password to my own personal email address here:……. I, (Type Your Full Name Here), hereby grant Warka Bank for Investment and Finance full authorization and permission to access my IQD Savings account #............. in order to collect any applicable E-banking Subscription fee as necessary; up to and including IQD15,000. I, (Type Your Full Name Here), hereby warrant to Warka Bank for Investment and Finance that I am in fact the true owner of these IQD and USD accounts #............ and #................ and therefore have full authority to make these requests and authorizations. Please, see my (attached) True Copy of the same government issued color identification that I used to open my accounts with Warka Bank for Investment and Finance. I look forward to being able to access my Warka Bank accounts on-line. Thank you very much for your kind attention to my accounts. Best and Warmest Regards, ________________________________________ Date: _________________________ Type Your Signature Name Here ____________________________________________________ E-mail language Requesting E-Banking Services Adapt to fit, Copy, Paste, & Send TO: [email protected]<script cf-hash='f9e31' type="text/javascript"> /* */</script> CC: [email protected] and [email protected] SUBJECT: (your 6 digit account #) E-Banking Services Application International Foreign Relations Department Re: E-Banking Services Subscription Dear Mr. Mohammad Kamal Issa: I have held my Warka accounts for (#) years but have never applied to your E-banking Department to obtain a password for your Warka Bank E-banking Services. I have in fact not abandoned my accounts but instead now wish to be able to access my accounts on-line; and especially considering that your fine bank’s latest security measures to access accounts have been so greatly upgraded. Attached to this transmission, please find my signed Application for E-banking Services and also a True Copy of my color ID with which your compliance department can verify my identity and my authorization signature. I apologize for any inconvenience on your part, but I would greatly appreciate your help in being able to receive a temporary password from your E-banking Department so that I might log on and change to a new password with which to access my accounts on-line. I now understand that I will then need to renew or change my password at least every three months in order to keep my accounts current and to be in compliance with Warka Bank’s latest account security features. Thank you very much for your help and for your kind attention to my accounts. I look forward to any response that you can manage the time for, at your convenience. My Very Best Regards, Your Full Account Name (over) Your 6 digit account # ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_____________________________________________________ A back up to the email/attachment method would be to convert the email to a printed and signed cover letter and then include it along with the original (blue ink signature) notarized Application form and a printed and notarized True Copy of your color ID in a FedEx International Express documents package sent directly to Warka’s Baghdad Branch c/o Mr. Issa. To cover every possibility you might also include a pre-paid FedEx envelope that Warka could immediately use to safely send your password right back to you; however, I suspect that when you finally do get a response with your password it’ll be via email. There’s definitely more expense involved in sending it by FedEx, but with a tracking number you can be sure that it actually got delivered and then you can also send that tracking number to Mr. Issa in a follow up email if necessary. Hard to ignore or deny something that actually physically got delivered and confirmed via the tracking number. CAUTION! If in fact Warka somehow already sent you a temporary password that you were never aware of (you thought it was spam?), or that you might have forgotten about by now, then applying for a brand new one might seem like hacker behavior to the Warka staff who don’t know if you are a joker, a smoker or a midnight toker ~ or just on the run. A thorough search of all your previous Warka emails just to be sure might be worth doing prior to applying for a new password. Otherwise, you just might fall into the Warka Bank “cyber terrorist” category for trying to hack your own account. No fear for the righteous though! Be sure, then go like hell, Efendi! Along the way, you just might discover some method of communicating with Mo & Ro and the rest of the Warka Staff that hasn’t been thought of yet. The Fed also might have something to say about Warka (a disgraced foreign bank) still trying to do business with the Fed’s financial peons (us) without the benefit of a Fed anointed nanny correspondent bank for Warka to transact business thru ~ such as the main branch of Citibank, NA - NY, NY. In other words, since Warka’s publicly declared insolvency, the Fed has withdrawn its stinking permission for Warka to communicate with commoners under the thumb of the Fed’s financial rule (us) and therefore Citibank can’t be the “middle man” bank between Warka and any Fed dominated Home Bank (ours) until the Fed deems the time is right. Warka could be ready to deal right now, but until the Fed says go they probably don’t want to risk any future sanctions by not complying with current Fed policy. The Fed usually leads the rest of the Central Banks in policy and especially those involved in the Middle East Coalition Forces ~ Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Germany and etc. So, it remains still up to the Shiite dominated CBI to finally comply with the Iraqi Financial Supreme Court decision which is now over a year old. That final decision ordered the CBI to repay all of the funds that under Maliki’s orders (to crush anything Sunni) it withheld from the Sunni controlled Warka Bank and thereby caused its insolvency in the first place. That final decision also ordered the CBI to publicly restore Warka’s reputation and certify that Warka is indeed now solvent enough to be open for business internationally. I can’t help but think that those two very same events are precisely what the Fed is also waiting for before again granting its stinking permission to Citibank to again be the funnel that will be the free flow of funds back and forth between Warka and Home Banks and that’s regardless of any anticipated RV. Foreign Currency Speculators who still have active (and growing) Warka Savings Accounts are nevertheless (financially) still at the mercy of a religious war in Iraq between two factions of Islam called Sunni and Shiite. That conflict is over 1000 years old and now has been expanded by the IS knuckleheads and might likely now take even longer for everyone to calm down enough to give Warka its due. The US Army still has an active (but still unavailable) Warka Account of over US$5 Million which they haven’t forgotten about; and that has been growing at 7% per annum (over $350,000) and guess what ~ the US Army is back in town and on a tighter budget! If we can get enough people with boots on the ground grumbling about the unavailability of Warka Bank with the convenience of its 120 Branches and 350 ATM machines (the biggest Iraqi bank footprint) scattered all over Iraq; then perhaps we can see some political pressure applied ~ which benefits those of us with Warka Foreign Savings Accounts.

Apparently, Warka is still operating inside Iraq for the benefit of its Iraqi customers (only) ~ albeit at a discreet operating distance from the IS whack-jobs and any opposing Shiite fanatics. Which actually answers the question of why the Warka Staff even bothered to post their latest news 2 October, 2014 on the Warka web-site ~ about being closed for the holidays. Apparently, here is what Warka is doing to survive on their own even without having received the compensation owed to them from the Shiite dominated CBI: Interest Paid Annually on Savings Accounts IQD savings accounts From 7% down to 5% per year compounded monthly USD savings accounts From 4% down to 2% per year compounded monthly Certificate of Deposits (IQD) 3 months CD From 8.5% down to 4% per year compounded monthly 6 months CD From 9.5% down to 5.5% per year compounded monthly 1 year CD From 10.5% down to 7% per year compounded monthly Certificate of Deposits (USD) 6 months CD From 4.5% down to 0 % (N/A) 1 year CD From 5% down to 0 % (N/A) Because we’ve already received the expected higher interest (3 - 3.5% every 6 months) on June 30th 2014, I think that this latest rate change will probably have started on July 1, 2014 and will be paid on December 31, 2014. Very important right now to be able to log on to your Warka account and check the balances before and after 31 Dec 2014 so that you know which savings interest rate currently applies to your own account ~ also so you can determine how much your account has grown since you first deposited. I’m seeing an average of about 18% over the last 3 years ~ just from compounded savings interest alone ~ no CD’s. As long as you know your last password used, you will be able to log-on; then go through the new security checks and change your password to something new. Very important to get that squared away before 31 Dec 2014 so that you have on-line access to your accounts. Here is the link to Warka's main home page: http://warka-bank.com/ From there just click on the "Online Banking" link in the bottom, right hand corner which is offered on the Home Page: https://onlinebanking.warka-bank-iq.com/IBS/index.jsp Before you do that, the only thing you need to have on-hand and ready to repeat is the very last password that you know that you used to access your account on-line via this very same Warka link. Or, if you've never accessed your account on-line; then you might have to go back to the very first e-mails that you received from Warka at the time you opened your account. Somewhere in those first e-mail replies from either Mohammad Kamal Issa, the Director of the International Foreign Relations Department for Warka, or from Rowaida Mohammed, of Customer Service for the Warka International Foreign Relations Department, you might find at least a temporary password that you were supposed to have used to log on and change that temporary Warka-issued password for one you'd remember ~ back then. Whatever the case, if you are armed with your Client ID which is always the middle 6 numbers of your Warka Account # (starting with 8), plus your last known, possibly workable password that you used or could have used if you had followed the links; then, you should be given the chance to use that same password again to get to the portion of the new Warka on-line security that they launched about half-way through their "Guardianship" phase. This new on-line security drill allows you to change that old password for a new one ~ as well as establish several other newer security checks which will ensure your ID to Warka’s satisfaction in the future. The Warka staff now is apparently not responding to any (previously required) formal e-mail requests with signed attachments that everybody used to need to submit in order to renew your password for IQD15000 a year. Two years ago when I renewed my annual e-banking subscription by that more formal method, I actually did get a confirmation e-mail ~ but from Mohammad K Issa, the Managing Director, not from Ashraf Amr who is actually supposed to be in charge of the e-banking department. I’ve pasted that e-mail thread below (last to first) so that you can get a sense of what used to happen. I’ve XXXXXX’d out or changed my own personal info to protect my privacy. Subject: FW: XXXXXX E-Banking Subscription Renewal From: Mohammad K. ISSA ([email protected]<script cf-hash='f9e31' type="text/javascript"> /* */</script>) To: MY EMAIL ADDRESS Cc: [email protected]<script cf-hash='f9e31' type="text/javascript"> /* */</script>; Date: Saturday, December 29, 2012 9:11 PM Dear Sir, Our e-banking department confirms that your online annual subscription has been renewed you can now access your account using the same login details. Please note that the online link is: https://onlinebanking.warka-bank-iq.com/IBS/index.jsp Should you have further questions or inquiries regarding your online account please contact the e-banking team [email protected] and they will provide their full cooperation and support. For any further information related to your account and the fine services provided by our good bank please take a moment to visit our website www.warka-bank.com news bulletin to view the latest notices and contact details of the related departments that will best handle your inquiries. We have several departments that will specifically handle each banking affair to your best interest by contacting them directly. Best regards, Mohammad K. Issa Deputy Managing Director Senior Executive Warka Bank for Investment and Finance This e-mail is confidential and the information contained in it is privileged. It should not be read, copied or used by anyone other than the intended recipient. If you have received it in error, please contact the sender immediately by return email, and delete the e-mail and do not disclose its contents to any person. From: Ashraf Amr <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2012 08:16:07 +0200 To: Mohammad Kamal <[email protected]> Subject: RE: XXXXXX E-Banking Subscription Renewal From: MY NAME & EMAIL> Reply-To: MY NAME & EMAIL> Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2012 02:55:47 +0200 To: Ashraf Amr <[email protected]> Cc: Customer Services <[email protected]>, Mohammad Kamal <[email protected]> Subject: XXXXXX E-Banking Subscription Renewal E-Banking Services Department Customer Services Department International Foreign Relations Attached to this transmission please find the file copy of a signed Authorization Letter renewing my Subscription to E-banking Services. I hope to hear from you shortly with a confirmation of your receipt of my request, and its execution. Best Regards MY PASSPORT SIGNATURE NAME XXXXXX It’s notable that I’ve never received a response directly from Ashraf Amr ~ always from Mohammad Issa and he always cc’d Ashraf Amr when he replied back to me. You can see from this thread that Amr e-mailed Issa back, but didn’t say anything in the message ~ at least nothing we can see. Whatever the case, the whole process ~ starting from me e-mailing them; up to me being able to log on again usually took no more than a week. Since this reply from Mr. Issa two years ago, I’ve usually sent my request for renewal ahead of the expiration date and my password was never turned off ~ so there’s been no more communications about it. Somewhere along the line, I got introduced to the new security drill and it seems that for a while when I renewed every 3 months there was something new added to the security. Now, the security drill is what it is, and what it takes to consistently login to your account is to go through the “change your password drill” every 3 months. Now, instead of that old way of renewing your password, the only option seems to be to use your last used (or available) password to login and get to the point where you change that old password to a new one and in addition establish a couple more personal security links which, IMO, are definitely a sign of a new and better security system worthy of any international banking institution. There’s no fee involved now ~ probably never was. If you attempt to log on with the last best password that you know of and get the message that says “Account Expired, Contact the Bank”, then you’ll have to approach the problem of getting a new working password by finding out the best method to contact Warka and get a response. Something interesting to note: Even though it seems that foreigners holding Warka Savings accounts in USD, IQD, and Euros cannot currently move those funds around or even take advantage of any CD interest rates or do anything with ISX equities that they might have purchased through the Warka in-house brokerage firm; they might nevertheless still be encouraged by the fact that Warka is still offering the best possible savings account interest it can afford to support on its own, without the Shiite dominated CBI, and that rate of return is still better than most other banks care to offer ~ worldwide. Pretty diligent banking actually, because even with accounts frozen for withdrawals of any kind since about the Spring of 2011, I still see an average overall growth of the IQD accounts of about 18 - 19% thru June 2014. With these lower interest rates posted on the Warka web-site, future growth may be stymied somewhat; but perhaps still out performing any other North American and/or European Union general savings account offerings. Even if it is an extremely forced savings. This DV Warka Forum has at least one post on what to do when you receive that “ACCOUNT EXPIRED” message and probably several more to choose from if you can’t log on but want to take action. If I had to guess I’d say the key to finally getting a reply from Mr. Issa and getting a password to log on with is persistence with communications ~ which should be kept polite, but insistent on the end result; that is, your ability to login to your own account.

http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2014/09/20/fixing-problems-caused-by-the-previous-regime/ New Iraqi Government Doomed To Spend All Year Fixing Problems Caused By Previous Regime During his last days in power, Iraq’s former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made senior appointments in the government and military to try and shore up his power. Now new MPs want to reverse some of those decisions as well as share power more equally between the different branches of government and the participating political parties. Many analysts are now saying that the new Iraqi government, headed by new Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, is going to be a “crisis government” – that is, one which will have to spend all of its time trying to fix crises and problems created by the previous regime. Recently there have been three major issues that the different political blocs in the Parliament have been working on. Firstly, a new internal bylaw to regulate the work of the prime minister’s department. This is something that Iraq’s last Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, had refused to even discuss because, one imagines, such a bylaw would have reduced the many powers he tried to keep solely for his executive branch. The second issue centres on a steering committee for all of the parties that identify as Shiite Muslim majority, which work in an alliance in Parliament. The committee would bring about more unified and quicker decision making among the alliance. In the past, al-Maliki had also refused to help form such a committee because once again, it would have taken away his power. The third issue is possibly the most important and concerns a number of decisions made by al-Maliki shortly before he was ousted by al-Abadi. The new government wants to know what all of these were – some remain unclear – and they want them annulled or reversed. This series of decisions includes al-Maliki making some important appointments, handing out sensitive positions to his closest allies and even relatives, as well as withdrawing money from the national coffers. Early in September al-Maliki appointed one of his closest allies, Ali al-Allaq, to head Iraq’s Central Bank. This came at the same time as the Central Bank’s former head, Sinan al-Shabibi, was sentenced to seven years in jail on charges of corruption. It is generally thought that because al-Shabibi, an economist, had resisted al-Maliki’s attempts to interfere in Central Bank business and not allowed him to withdraw money from the bank’s reserves, that al-Maliki cooked up the corruption charges in order to have him removed from the post. There have already been calls to reverse the decisions made against al-Shabibi. Other appointments made by al-Maliki include appointing his spokesperson, Ali al-Mousawi, as director general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, making the head of his financial office, Dea’a al-Quraishi, the Deputy Minister of Planning and appointing an MP from his own party, Ali al-Shlah, as chairman of the board of trustees at the national broadcaster, the Iraqi Media Network, which also runs the Iraqiya TV channel. Current MPs say that behind the scenes, al-Maliki also appointed dozens more of his closest allies and followers into senior jobs in sensitive positions. Other job holders were forced to retire, army officers loyal to al-Maliki were unjustifiably promoted and other army officers were paid above and beyond their salaries by his office. “Parliament is going to discuss all of he decisions taken by the previous government,” Shiite Muslim MP Hassan al-Sari told NIQASH. “Especially as many of these decisions should not have been made without Parliament’s approval in the first place.” Iraq’s Constitution actually says that appointments such as the head of the Central Bank need to be approved by Parliament, as do many senior military and security appointments – however al-Maliki basically ignored this. There is also a larger issue here, especially when it comes to the country’s security. It is generally thought that a lot of the army and police commanders respect al-Maliki. As yet they do not feel this way about the new Prime Minister, al-Abadi. And al-Maliki has been quick to criticise al-Abadi’s security related decisions. Al-Maliki visited his hometown in Karbala last week and made harsh comments about the shelling of heavily populated areas under the control of Sunni Muslim extremists – innocent civilians were being killed, he said. He was also critical of al-Abadi’s stated aim of forming separate armed forces in different parts of Iraq. Although it is hard to know what caused this – the Iraqi army’s own inefficiency could be the cause – the army continued to shell populated areas for hours after al-Abadi commanded them to stop. Questions have been raised as to whether Iraqi army officers will abide by their new Commander-in-Chief’s orders. Correcting these “mistakes” made by al-Maliki will be a difficult task. In order to make it easier, current MPs from every part of the government want to draft legislation that defines how the executive branch and cabinet works. “The new Prime Minister has vowed to draft bylaws for his department in order to end that department’s monopoly on decision making,” MP Amir al-Kanani, a leading member of the Shiite Muslim Sadrist movement, told NIQASH. During the last two governments, both led by al-Maliki, there was no such law. Cabinet ministers didn’t know where their powers began or ended and they would often seek permission from al-Maliki before making any decisions. The lack of such a law also meant that it wasn’t clear when the government became illegitimate. For example, around a third of Iraq’s Ministers withdrew from the al-Maliki-led Cabinet last year – yet al-Maliki continued to govern the country. Additionally he would just appoint replacements for the ministers who withdrew from within his group of friends and allies. If that happened in any other country, there would be a call for early elections. And it was not only Iraq’s Kurdish MPs or it’s Sunni Muslim MPs who were left out in the cold by al-Maliki’s style of leadership. Shiite Muslim MPs from the biggest groups supporting al-Maliki were also deprived of any decision-making powers, especially if they had criticised al-Maliki. In order to avoid a repeat of this, Shiite Muslim MPs in the so-called National Alliance, are looking at coming up with internal bylaws and a steering committee. The major Shiite Muslim parties want to form a steering committee that includes a representative from each party, National Alliance MPs told NIQASH. The committee’s task is to monitor al-Abadi’s performance and to get him to consult with the alliance before making major decisions. The Shiite Muslim alliance also agreed that no prime minister should be allowed to stay on longer than two terms in office. Additionally any cabinet minister from the National Alliance who isn’t doing their job well should be replaced. While these steps may seem positive to many, an informal survey of the MPs in Iraq’s new government yielded a lot of pessimism. Many believe that this new government is going to spend most of its term trying to correct al-Maliki’s power-mongering and mistakes – among these, the most prominent one being the fact that Sunni Muslim extremists from the Islamic State group are still in charge of large parts of the country.

BigSky1 Thanx. All of this is good information to know for anybody with a Warka account. Like birekart says, though, a person can seem to do everything right but still get dinged with the occasional bout of high drama and anxiety when dealing with Warka. Of course, a person’s level of anxiety might just depend on how much they have on deposit relative to how much they can really spare to be temporarily out of circulation. Miscalculations have been known to happen in that department. I’ve mistakenly tried to put my password into the Client ID space (several times) and noticed that it seemed to accept only so many spaces/characters longer than necessary to enter a legitimate Client ID number. I’ve had 3 previous overseas accounts before Warka and they’re all a little bit scary because you can’t actually walk in and talk to anybody ~ no leverage at all if something goes south on you. Even if you’re willing to bring lawyers, guns, and money to deal with any given situation, the opportunity to use them might never present itself. Warka doesn’t feel at all hopeless to me ~ just legitimately and temporarily stalled from operating in a wildly vindictive political/social/religious atmosphere. The 56% Sunni owners of Warka ~ The Bunnia Family ~ have been established as an international corporation for over a hundred years and have hundreds of companies under that umbrella. They’re not going to operate a Ponzi scheme or any other kind of scam right in the heart of “100% honesty in all financial matters” Islamic dominated territory. They’re also not about to let some Johnny come lately Shia punks on the CBI Board of Directors push them around ~ and since push came to shove have without a doubt proved themselves capable of dealing with those knuckleheads in the highest court in the land. Wild and crazy and armed Sunni dominated outfits like ISIS might choose not to rob or hold hostage or otherwise destroy any of the Sunni owned Warka Bank branches and ATM’s; and especially if they’re 21st century enough to understand the speed and convenience of electronic banking with which to launder all the cash they swipe ~ probably from just about anybody they feel like, really. By the same token, perhaps right now it’s a good thing that those Warka Bank branches and ATM’s are temporarily strapped for cash out there in the wild streets of Iraq ~ at least even the Shia militia and/or Shia Iraqi soldiers won’t be so tempted to rob them either. I love it that our accounts are electronic and still earning ~ and, so far, immune from all those true believer destroyer antics that are going on. Can’t we all just get along?

BigSky1, You may be trying to put your password into the space that asks for your Client ID ~ that number is the 6 digits in the middle of your account number. Once you’ve put your Client ID number in and copied the security feature displayed, you’ll go to the next step which has your selected letter on it and is asking for your password ~ which can definitely be longer than 8 digits.

tygsal Since we’ve always had the option of using Warka’s E-banking Services (or not), I can see where you could have come this far (at least 3 years?) without having ever accessed your Warka accounts on-line. There are probably plenty of examples posted on the DV site which could introduce you to methods on how to initially apply for and/or renew Warka’s E-banking Services; however, folks in your position who have had accounts for years, but who have never had on-line access may now have to wait until Warka is operational again to receive a password that will allow them to log on. I say this because of the lack of emails coming out of Warka right now. Without an email, it might not be possible for anyone to receive a new password from Warka. In my experience, most banks refuse to send passwords via email; but instead prefer to send them by regular post in a secure envelope or by courier with signature required. In my initial application for Warka e-banking, I gave Warka my express permission for Warka customer service to send my new temporary password by email ~ since I had not supplied them with either my phone number or my physical address when I gave them my initial client information to open my accounts. I doubt if Warka staff are ever going to want to call me from Iraq or send documents or paperwork via the post or FedEx or some other courier service, and so my email address will have to stand in for both. So far it’s all I’ve ever needed. Whenever I’ve renewed my subscription annually, I can’t remember ever getting a confirmation email from Warka E-banking. Instead, my password just started to work again within a few days of sending the email, or if I had renewed early, my password just never expired in the first place. tygsal, since you’ve never applied for e-banking services and don’t have a password to renew/change via the new on-line security measures that Warka has endorsed; then, you might consider tweaking one of the already existing application examples to better fit your exact circumstances as they are right now. The process will necessarily resemble the same drill you went through to open the accounts initially, in that you’re probably going to have to really prove who you are and that you really own the account in order for Warka to feel comfortable about issuing a password to your email address. Whenever you email your application, IMO, it would seem prudent to also attach a true copy of the original ID that you used to open the accounts ~ so that Warka can verify your identity through their Compliance Department. Using the subject and the body of your email as a cover letter addressed directly to Mr. Issa, you could briefly convey you’re your intent in sending the transmission. I would suggest that a separate signed application politely covering all requests, permissions and fee allowances also be attached to your email along with that true copy of your ID. I’ve found that a pdf format works well when sending copies of color ID’s or signed documents and especially if you use a blue ink pen to sign with. Just as the true copy of your ID had to be notarized when you first opened the account (mostly to attest to your full name and true signature) it might now serve to also have your signed Application notarized to attest to the exact same signature that you used on your ID. This whole drill should be a one-time deal; because once you have a temporary password to log-on with, Warka will expect you to immediately change it to one that only you know and then will expect you to continue to maintain it on your own. Once you successfully go through the Warka security measures and you’ve actually accessed your accounts, you’ll see your next renewal date right there on the first page of your accounts summary. Continue to change/renew your password on or before that date and you shouldn’t need to re-apply again. Whatever the case, your ultimate goal right now might be to receive just one email from Warka containing your password. You already know your log-on Client ID ~ it’s the middle 6 numbers of your account/s number ~ so you only need a password to log-on. I don’t believe that either Mr. Issa or his Foreign Relations Department Staff would actually want to deny any depositor access to his/her accounts; but I’m sure he has to follow a strict protocol with account security. I imagine your success in getting a password from Warka during their dormant period would involve strict compliance with all security protocol (without any prompting from Warka) and also with providing adequate permission/authority for Warka to send your temporary password by email. Here’s a suggestion regarding an email that you might send after you’ve altered it to include your own personal information/language: _________________________________________________________________ TO: ifrd@warka-bank-iq.com CC: e-bank@warka-bank-iq.com and c.services@warka-bank-iq.com SUBJECT: (your 6 digit account #) E-Banking Services Subscription Application International Foreign Relations Department Re: E-Banking Services Subscription Dear Mr. Issa: I've held my Warka accounts for (#) years but have never obtained a password to log on to Warka Bank E-banking Services and access my accounts. Now I wish to be able to view my accounts more regularly and especially considering that Warka Bank’s latest security measures to access accounts have been so greatly upgraded. I apologize for any inconvenience on your part, but I would greatly appreciate your help in being able to receive a temporary password from your E-banking Department so that I might log on and change to a new password with which to access my accounts on-line. I now understand that I will then need to renew or change my password at least every three months in order to keep my accounts current and to be in compliance with Warka Bank’s latest account security features. Attached to this transmission, please find my signed Application for a Subscription to Warka Bank’s E-banking Services and also attached is a True Copy of my color ID with which your compliance department can verify my identity and my authorization signature. Thank you very much for your help and for your kind attention to my accounts. My Very Best Regards, Your Full Account Name (over) Your 6 digit account # ________________________________________________________________________________________________ It would be best if you can send the exact copy of your ID that you used to open the accounts in the first place, so that it matches perfectly with the files that Warka has on record. Here is a suggestion for an Application for E-banking Services that you could tweak to fit your own specs, and then print, sign, scan, name the file and attach it to the email: _________________________________________________________________ Application for E-banking Services To: Warka Bank for Investment and Finance Attn: Mr. Ashraf Amr e-bank@warka-bank-iq.com Re: E- banking Subscription for 790/000000/1/2521/0 I, (Type Your Full Name Here), respectfully request Warka Bank for Investment and Finance to kindly issue me a temporary password so that I might use Warka Bank’s E-Banking Services. I, (Type Your Full Name Here), hereby grant Warka Bank for Investment and Finance full authorization and permission to send my new temporary password to this email address:……. I, (Type Your Full Name Here), hereby grant Warka Bank for Investment and Finance full authorization and permission to access my IQD Savings account #............. in order to collect any applicable E-banking Subscription fee up to and including IQD 15,000. I, (Type Your Full Name Here), hereby warrant to Warka Bank for Investment and Finance that I am in fact the true owner of these IQD and USD accounts #............ and #................ and therefore have full authority to make these requests and authorizations. I look forward to being able to access my Warka Bank accounts on-line. Thank you very much for your kind attention to my accounts. Best and Warmest Regards, ________________________________________ Date: _________________________ Type Your Signature Name Here __________________________________________________________________ Once you’ve sent your Application, it probably would be a good idea to attempt to log on to your Warka account at least once a day until the system again allows you to change your password and access your accounts. If this method actually works to restore access to an “expired account”, any feedback about it might also serve to help others with the same problem. A back up to this method would be to convert the email to a printed and signed cover letter and then include it along with the original (blue ink signature) notarized Application form and a printed and notarized true copy of your color ID in a FedEx International Express documents package sent directly to Warka’s Baghdad Branch c/o Mr. Issa. To cover every possibility you might also include a pre-paid FedEx envelope that Warka could use to safely send your password right back to you; however, I suspect that when you finally do get a response with your password it’ll be via email. There’s definitely more expense involved in sending it by FedEx but with a tracking number you can be sure that it actually got delivered and then you can also send that tracking number to Mr. Issa in a follow up email if necessary. Hard to ignore or deny something that actually physically got delivered and confirmed via the tracking number. CAUTION! If in fact Warka somehow already sent you a temporary password that you were never aware of (spam?), or that you might have forgotten about by now, then applying for a brand new one might seem like hacker behavior to the Warka staff. A thorough search of all your previous Warka emails just to be sure might be worth doing prior to applying for a new password. Anyway, good luck with all of that.

If you’ve recently tried to log on to your Warka account and have gotten this message: “ACCOUNT HAS EXPIRED, PLEASE CONTACT THE BANK” it probably means that you haven’t bothered to log on to your account in over a year. Whatever the case, let’s assume that the “ACCOUNT EXPIRED” message doesn’t mean that your account has been closed, and the funds confiscated ~ it’s just Warka’s idea of a wake-up call for not paying enough attention to your account. Let’s also assume that it’s only your e-banking subscription that has expired; and therefore as per instructions in the error message, you will need to contact the bank to renew it. Because of the new security measures that Warka has introduced to the logging on process, they have brought the on-line security up to international transfer standards and each depositor now has more of a responsibility to maintain their own accounts by changing the password at least every fiscal quarter. No renewal process other than changing the password, and no annual fee ~ just pay more attention to your accounts, Habibi. Right now, to get back into the Warka e-banking system you’ll probably have to do the Application to Renew your e-banking subscription one final time to let Warka know that you haven’t abandoned your accounts and that you are still interested in logging on to them. In the past, whenever I have renewed my e-banking subscription I never once received a confirmation email from Warka or had the IQD15000 deducted from my account; but, my password always started working again within a few days of the Application to Renew. Once you’re able to log on again, you will see that as part of the new security features the last date that you logged on to your account, plus your next password renewal date are both displayed on your account’s home page. No excuses for not knowing, now. A very polite, slightly apologetic tone to both your signed Application and to the body of your email that you send; along with a very specific and clear naming of the attached pdf/jpg files, will go a long way in expediting what is basically a nuisance request. We hope. Here are suggestions for both the Email and the Application language that you might use to renew your on line access. _________________________________________________________________ To: e-bank@warka-bank-iq.com CC: ifrd@warka-bank-iq.com and c.services@warka-bank-iq.com Subject: (your 6 digit account #) E-Banking Services Subscription Renewal E-Banking Services Department International Foreign Relations Customer Services Department Dear Sirs: My E-banking Subscription has expired, but now I wish to be able to view my accounts again; and especially considering that Warka Bank’s latest security measures to access accounts have been so greatly upgraded. I apologize for any inconvenience on your part, but I would greatly appreciate your help in being able to temporarily re-use my expired password so that I might log on again and change to a new password. I now understand that I will then need to renew or change my password at least every three months in order to keep my accounts current and to be in compliance with Warka Bank’s latest account security features. Attached to this transmission, please find my signed Application to Renew my Subscription to Warka Bank’s E-banking Services and also a True Copy of my color ID with which your compliance department can verify my identity. Thank you very much for your help and for your kind attention to my accounts. My Very Best Regards, Your Full Account Name (over) Your 6 digit account # ________________________________________________________________________________________________ It would be best if you can send the exact copy of your ID that you used to open the account, so that it matches perfectly with the files that Warka has on record. Here is a suggestion for the Application to Renew that you could tweak to fit your specs, print, sign, scan, name and attach to the email: _________________________________________________________________ Application to Renew Expired E-banking Services To: Warka Bank for Investment and Finance Attn: Mr. Ashraf Amr e-bank@warka-bank-iq.com Re: Expired E- banking Subscription for 790/000000/1/2521/0 I, (Type Your Full Name Here), respectfully request Warka Bank for Investment and Finance to please kindly re-new my Subscription to E-Banking Services so that I might temporarily re-use my existing (expired) password in order to log on to e-banking and change my password in order to comply with the current Warka Bank security standards. I look forward to once again being able to access my Warka Bank accounts on-line. Thank you for your kind attention to my accounts. Best and Warmest Regards, ________________________________________ Date: _________________________ Type Your Signature Name Here __________________________________________________________________ Once you’ve sent an Application to Renew, it probably would be a good idea to attempt to log on to your Warka account at least once a day until the system again allows you to renew or change your password and access your accounts. If this method actually works to restore access to an expired account, any feedback about it might also serve to help others with the same problem.