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Found 13 results

  1. Halting the Iraqi Dinar's Volatility Iraq-Business News * 22nd February 2023 in Iraq Banking & Finance News, Iraq Industry & Trade News, Politics By Ahmed Tabaqchali, for the Atlantic Council. Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Iraq needs to address the economy's structural imbalances to halt the dinar's volatility A planned implementation of global procedural requirements for cross-border payments by the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) in mid-November 2022 had a detrimental effect on the volumes of the CBI's daily "Foreign Currency Selling Window," better known as the CBI's US Dollar (USD) auction. The decreased volumes versus the continued high demand for USD led to a supply-demand mismatch and, consequently, to a depreciation of the market price of the Iraqi Dinar (IQD) versus the USD. As a result, it ignited a firestorm of controversy.
  2. Mosul Bank selects CR2 to Accelerate Digital Banking 10th March 2022 in Iraq Banking & Finance News Mosul Bank has selected Irish-based CR2, one of the world's leading software vendors in the digital banking and payments market, to accelerate its digital banking transformation strategy in the Iraqi market. This latest win for CR2 will see Mosul Bank offering a more advanced digital banking service to the Iraqi retail and corporate banking market, across both mobile and internet access points. New and existing customers can expect to enjoy a more enhanced digital experience with an engaging UX, digital onboarding, easy payments and an array of banking and personal support services that meets the demands of today's digital customer. Built upon CR2's award winning, highly configurable and flexible platform - BankWorld - Mosul Bank will roll out a range of off-the-shelf functionality and can further drive local innovation with the ability to easily design and launch new products and services to meet local requirements. Offering a market leading digital service will drive digital adoption of their existing base, attract new customers and better serve their expanding corporate/SME customer segment. Mr. Munaf Salim, Chief Information Officer of Mosul Bank commented: "Mosul Bank has signed a definitive agreement with CR2 that will help our ambition in becoming the market leader in the Iraqi Banking industry. CR2's BankWorld platform allows us to carve out a new digital experience in Iraq that has not been seen in this market before. "The capabilities of CR2's platform will drive our digital adoption base, reduce the cost of customer onboarding, provide more comprehensive digital services to our retail and corporate customers and overall offer a more enhanced user experience that meets the rising demands of today's digital customer with digital transformation throughout the financial services sector." Chief Executive of CR2, Fintan Byrne added: "CR2 are very pleased to have been selected by Mosul Bank and are proud to help them lead digital banking transformation in Iraq. We are supporting a growing number of banks across the Middle East region and Iraq, like other countries in the region, represents a market where there is a real sense of urgency for banks to advance their digital offerings to compete and remain relevant in the face of intensifying competition. Succeeding requires innovation, adaptability and selecting a suitable software vendor who shares their vision and ambition." (Source: CR2) https://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2022/03/10/mosul-bank-selects-cr2-to-accelerate-digital-banking/
  3. WOW - what a dilemma we face these days -- We read & hear about the risk of putting our money in the banks but yet if we hide it in our homes it still poses a risk -- Just what do we do?? One thing that I feel is a major consideration is a back up plan -- a note somewhere to recover in case our memory fails us..... or worse .... we expire our time here .... I just very recently told my daughter some very personal information concerning some valuables ...... just in case ........ I was in that 27% ha ha for the freezer -- I put it there probably 1 1/2 yrs ago and "forgot" -- found it by accident just a few days ago along with a $100 bill in a wallet that I was no longer carrying -- I have hidden small amounts of money for emergencies since my early teen years when I first started earning it - I think I have more hidden but plan to clean out freezer soon so will take a closer look at what I throw away -- lol Maybe it would not be too smart for us to mention our favorite hiding places but it might be fun to read stories of hiding and finding cash / treasures - Have you misplaced things that you still have not found? Or have you found things that were hidden by some one else? I have read some very interesting stories of folks finding huge hidden treasures in old houses - In the walls - behind picture frames - in the floors -- under carpet -- in the basement -- etc. My house is 100 years old but I have not found anything of value yet lol -- I hope some of you will share your interesting stories -- Anyone still looking for their misplaced Dinar ? ??? I think I finally have all accounted for now with receipts -- UNEEK Forget The Bank: Why Many Americans Are Hiding Cash Where to stash your cash? Some Americans are sleeping on it-literally. While banks are still the go-to solution for most consumers, 29 percent say they're keeping at least some savings in cash bills and coins, according to a new survey of 1,820 adults from American Express (AXP). Of those holding cash savings, 53 percent are hiding it in a secret location. Millennials are even more apt than other generations to go the mattress or freezer route, with 67 percent of those saving cash saying that they hide it outside a bank account. "We've long asked people about how they've planned to keep their savings, and for the past few years, we've seen an uptick in people saving cash," said Kimberly Litt, public affairs manager at American Express. This is the first year the company has specifically asked Americans about tucking away cash. The survey also found that about 1 in 4 consumers anticipates a financial emergency this year, and hiding cash at home could be one way people are preparing. "I've also heard of people using it as a budget technique, keeping cash in envelopes set aside," said Litt. AmEx didn't ask where, exactly, that cash is stashed, but a 2012 Marist College survey of 1,080 adults found that the most popular place-with 27 percent of the vote-is the freezer. A little less than 20 percent of Americans hide cash in a sock drawer, while 11 percent put it under the mattress and 10 percent secure it in a cookie jar. Another 9 percent keep their cash somewhere else in the house. "We saw a surge of this back in 2008, when the banking crisis was going on," said security expert Todd Morris, founder and chief executive of BrickHouse Security, a company that sells security, technology and surveillance solutions. The trend has continued in recent years, he said, with more people installing floor and wall safes to store important documents and cash. But keeping large amounts of cash in the house is something that makes personal finance experts cringe. "Can't discourage it strongly enough," said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com. "That's a recipe for problems down the road." Primarily, that's because the funds don't have the same loss protections afforded to an FDIC-insured savings or checking account. "Keeping money stashed around the house leaves you at tremendous risk of theft or loss due to fire or some sort of unforeseen disaster," he said. There are plenty of horror stories, such as the Israeli woman who in 2009 replaced her mother's old mattress, only to learn that it was where she'd hidden her life savings, an estimated $1 million. Or the man in Moline, Illinois, who accidentally donated a suit with $13,000 stashed in a pocket. That said, it's not a bad idea to have a little cash at home, for use in an emergency, said McBride. After a major storm, for example, ATM access may be limited or stores' credit card processing systems may not be working. Keep on hand what you'd need to tide you over for a few days, with the exact amount depending on your family's financial situation, he said. But even then, come up with a decent hiding spot. Thieves know which spots are popular, Morris said. "Burglars definitely know certain places to look, like the bottom of your sock drawers, and underneath your drawers, where it's easy to tape an envelope [of cash]," he said. "If you think about your house and you know where things are, you can think about some places where people wouldn't look." Maybe a tool box in the basement, for example, or a little-looked-at book on your shelf. Pick just one place, Morris said. Divvying up cash among multiple spots increases the chance of you forgetting one of the hiding places or otherwise losing the cash (say, by adding the pair of boots where it's stored to the yard sale pile, or throwing out that old hairbrush that's actually a diversion safe). Be sure to tell at least one other person the location of your hiding place, he said. That reduces the chances of an accidental disposal, and also ensures your assets won't be lost if you suddenly pass away http://finance.yahoo.com/news/forget-bank-why-many-americans-161502396.html
  4. I have said this before -- Just when you think you have seen & heard everything in the outlandish unbelievable category - you get another knee jerk news article that causes you to drop your jaw in awe - Below is such one article -- A Fake Bank? Really? Operated for a year? What's Next? January 28, 2015 Notes From The Field By Simon Black “just because you can log on to your bank’s website and see an account balance printed on the screen doesn’t mean that the money is actually there.” Sovereign Valley Farm, Chile Last May, Mr. Wang from Hangzhou, China walked into a bank on Jiangpu Street in Nanjing, opened an account, and made a 12 million yuan deposit. The bank was new, but it didn’t look different from any other bank that Mr. Wang had been to. It had a giant vault, counters for the tellers, exchange and interest rates posted on the wall. And above all, it was very elegant. But after a few weeks, Mr. Wang stopped receiving the interest he’d been promised. When he tried to withdraw his money, the bank froze his deposit. So he went straight to the police. Turns out that even though it had been operating for over a year, it wasn’t actually a licensed bank. Apparently some people had simply renovated a building to give customers the impression that they were a real bank. But it was a total scam. Some of the senior executives have since been arrested, and the story is now slowly leaking out to the Western world. What I find particularly interesting about this story is that it reveals how people have been programmed to hand over our hard-earned savings to complete strangers, simply because we walk into a building and see a vault. In this case the bank itself was a ‘fake’, i.e. it wasn’t sanctioned by the government. Candidly, though, I find very little difference from government-licensed banks that recklessly gamble their customers’ money… or that are effectively insolvent to begin with. It’s crazy to think that very few people ever conduct due diligence on their bank. You wouldn’t just walk up and hand over your life savings to some bum on the street. But put him suit standing in front of a vault and suddenly the air of legitimacy compels us to hand over everything to this complete stranger who has a track record of screwing his customers. We’ve discussed this before. Many banks, particularly in the West, are highly illiquid and borderline insolvent. You don’t even have to take my word for it. Go see for yourself. Each quarter, most large banks publish their financial statements. And with a few simple calculations you will be able to see just how illiquid they really are. Some of the largest banks in the west, for example, state in their financials that they only hold a small fraction (often less than 3%) of their customers’ deposits. The rest is loaned out or gambled away. It’s not exactly a conservative practice. Given that they actually publish these results, the banks themselves are telling anyone who’s paying attention that they’re very risky. Fortunately for them there are very few people paying attention. People simply think that just because it’s a bank, it must be safe. This Chinese bank happened to be fake. But again, when you look at the actual data, the “real” banks, particularly in the developed West, aren’t much safer. Bottom line — banking is all about confidence. It’s imperative to have trust and reliability in credible, conservative, strong, transparent financial institutions. Even if you don’t understand finance, one way to test your bank’s transparency is to ask them for their financial statements. If they won’t do it, you should not only walk out the door, you should run. And be sure to take all of your money with you. Handing your money to a stranger DEMANDS transparency. If they’re not willing to be transparent, that’s a bad sign. As the people of Cyprus found out nearly two years ago, just because you can log on to your bank’s website and see an account balance printed on the screen doesn’t mean that the money is actually there. For banks, your account balance is a liability -- money they owe you. Think about that: your bank OWES you YOUR own money. Do they have it? It’s a question worth asking. And a lot of the information is right there in the financials. Just because there’s a vault in a building doesn’t mean that they’re good for it. Trust and confidence are built by conducting serious due diligence and making calculated, informed decisions about the strangers that we’re dealing with. Until tomorrow, Signature Simon Black Founder, SovereignMan.com http://www.sovereignman.com/welcome/
  5. Unauthorized Bank Charges - Is This a New Trend? I know it doesn't seem like much for one person, but I found a $19.95 MONTHLY charge on my bank account for what would pay for something entirely out of my character to be in need of.... weight loss. I found this out by looking it up online with the phone number listed on the charge itself... http://www.leaninspirationmd.com/ I called the bank to let them know it was entirely fraud and I had no idea how they had all of my complete information to make the transaction in the first place. Scary! I confirmed they had all of my information to make this transaction when I called to have the charge reversed. They indeed had my name, address, phone number, and of course my bank information. Here's a big article by the BBB on several weight loss sights showing up on peoples bank charges.... http://www.bbb.org/south-plains-texas/news-events/news-releases/2014/06/diet-websites-charging-you/ Scary huh. I wonder how many unauthorized charges all of these businesses have total as of today. My bank (US Bank) has no problems backing me up... but what automatically happens when a fraud complaint goes into the system is that it automatically considers itself resolved when the company issues a credit back to the account. Does this let them off the hook? It's easy to find out who owns these websites, but why have they not been seized from doing business in this way? Do a search for "who is thatdotcomname.com" and you will learn who these folks are. From this example I am gathering that it must not be against the law in the United States to make unauthorized charges on bank accounts. I'm just saying.... watch your back!
  6. Do any of you recognize the name "Memphis" - he is from KTFA but rarely posts anywhere anymore; instead sends out an email to a list - Someone sent his recent one so I am sharing - It, like everything else lol may be controversial so please do not bash me for posting someone elses perspective on world affairs - I feel that having other perspectives to compare broadens our scope of knowledge and enables us to better make up our mind - Memphis - American exceptionalism (2) On Thursday, September 11, 2014 7:03 PM, Memphis wrote: "Mr. Obama can trumpet American exceptionalism all he wants. He can brag about how ONLY America can lead the world. But the Chinese are laughing all the way to the bank." ~ Simon Black This speaks to one of the many paradigm shifts that I have encountered in recent years. Most of you have likely wrestled with this as well. Are we, as Americans, special [separate and set apart] in the world and if so, by what virtue did we attain this honor? Is it simply because we were not born into some third world nation or was it perhaps simply the hand of Providence? One could certainly argue that God has had a protective hand upon our nation and that He has been slow to allow judgement but in the final analysis are we TRULY special and immune from all of the world's pain? Put another way, are the Greek's, the Portuguese, fill in the blank (_____), somehow subject to the world' ups and downs (spelled 'cycles') simply because they had the misfortune of not being born American? There is a normalcy bias in most American's that will be shaken to the core before this decade is over. I never intentionally set out with the mindset of being 'politically incorrect'. To rub people the wrong way or upset their (mis)perceptions of the world is not a way to reach them and so we must always 'consider our audience'. Given that I know little to nothing about most of you, my 'audience', my only recourse is to just be true to myself, to tell it like it is. Today's subject (again) requires us to be honest with ourselves and to face the reality of what our nation is facing. I would not feel qualified to even speak along these lines if my world view were an emotional one for that would be at the expense of simply seeing things as they are. Tho few people have seen it, the only reason why my words (what I have to say) have ever mattered to anyone is that I have a great capacity to not care! I want to see things as they are regardless of who wins/loses or who's proven right or wrong. Example: Until Aug11 I believed that Mr. Maliki was going to be PM of Iraq for a 3rd term but the important point here is that I didn't care! I was not emotionally invested in being 'right'. When I learned of the appointee al-Abadi and his past connections? I quickly and UN-emotionally stated publicly of my conviction that he was 'chosen' to be Iraq's new PM. Had I been emotionally invested? I would have been disqualified to render any objective opinion. Hope that makes sense. As my understanding of the world grows I am becoming less reserved in expressing my views. In the context of starting a church this would translate into one that is decidedly NOT 'seeker friendly'. If folks want their ears tickled at the expense of hearing the truth then 'keep pushing on' as there are plenty of sources available to you. And so if we adopt this decidedly pragmatic view we are then free to either accept or reject what we are exposed to. To 'accept' is always the toughest course as it requires that we adjust our perceptions of our world and specifically of America and her future role, the path that we as a people have chosen for our nation (let that one sink in). The greatest thing that I would point to, the reality that we should be grounded in, is that these blogs have not been based in opinion. I have been bringing the reader small snapshots of the world, as it truly is, and in so doing my hope is that the individual reader will open up their mind to new possibilities, to be open to change even when it sometimes...hurts. One of Martin Armstrong's most often repeated phrases is that: "Opinions mean nothing!" And he is right. I try to limit opinions but when offered, attempt to do so based in fact. The degree to which I succeed is determined within the mind of the individual as it is offered with the hope of provoking thought within you! The things that I am seeing, the trends that are unfolding, are such that I could never convey them all in these blogs. My time does not permit and even if one person could compile this mountain of evidences? Sharing it, expressing it, so as to make it plainly seen by others (who cannot be immersed in it daily) would be impossible! A recent example (photo at bottom) published just an hour ago by Bloomberg: 1) Several African nations are suddenly revising their 2014 GDP downward. Means nothing to us right? Just for fun tho, let's take this snapshot from the micro level and bring it up into the macro discussion. When we do this we quickly recognize that, coincidentally, THESE SAME NATIONS have seen an outbreak of Ebola in recent months. Add to this that THESE SAME NATIONS have each had major oil & Natural gas discoveries made in 2012-2013 and have chosen to sell the rights for mining to companies from........China and Russia? Can we open our minds to the possibility that the economic warfare being waged in many places might also be presenting in the form of a sick and twisted 'viral' warfare? If this hurts your brain to even think about? I get it. It hurts mine too. I hope this blog makes sense and does not appear to be just a random filling of space for it seemed important to have this discussion (even if only by way of reminder) to prepare us all to fully appreciate some realities that follow in today's blog from Simon Black. As we pause to read his words consider that they are not of any deep or revelatory nature. I was not shaken by any deep truths here but on the whole, it is of value to read (to study this out) for he is a clear thinker who sees the world better than most. note: JC Collins released a new blog last night that takes the reader higher in their perspective. It is well worth your consideration at PhilosophyOfMetrics.com http://philosophyofmetrics.com/2014/09/11/everything-will-be-sdr-compliant/ http://philosophyofmetrics.com/2014/09/10/the-devils-tears/ nftflogo.png pic did not post sorry - could not find September 11, 2014 Santiago, Chile Governments and mainstream media outlets have a great way of presenting sensational threats and evil villains. They want us to be terrified of men in caves, roving bands of barbarians, and deadly viruses that turn our insides out. Last night, for example, President Obama told the world that ISIL poses the most significant threat to global security. (Ironically al-Qaida no longer seems to be a threat, and ISIL, which no one had heard of until a few months ago, is now public enemy #1. It just goes to show how shallow and reactionary the security theater is…) But here’s the truth: If you live in the Land of the Free, you’re far more likely to get ‘accidentally’ shot by a police officer than blown up by a terrorist. You’re also far more likely to lose the preponderance of your life’s savings due to a currency crisis than you are to be infected with the Ebola virus. Words are hollow. Look at reality. Mr. Obama said last night that America stands for Freedom. Justice. Dignity. It sounds great. But this comes from a President that has presided over illegal spying of American citizens, allies, and even sitting politicians in Congress. They assassinate people by remote control drones. They aggressively pursue whistleblowers who shine a spotlight on their activities. And they set aside international law to invade any country of their choosing in their sole discretion. They’re also actively encouraging the collapse of the dollar-denominated financial system. Right now, the preponderance of world trade is transacted and settled in US dollars. This has created tremendous demand from literally billions of people, companies, banks, and governments around the world to hold dollars and use the US banking system. As a result, the US effectively gets to trade money they have conjured out of thin air for goods and services that foreigners have had to work hard to produce. This is an unbelievable privilege for the US, and one that they have been abusing for years. They have chased entire nations out of the financial system. They’ve blasted foreign banks with debilitating penalties for doing business with countries the US doesn’t like. They’ve arrogantly commanded foreign banks to comply with absurd, costly regulations. And they’ve practically forced the Chinese and Russians into bed with one another. Mr. Obama can trumpet American exceptionalism all he wants. He can brag about how ONLY America can lead the world. But the Chinese are laughing all the way to the bank. Fact is, China, Russia, and others are already taking steps to circumvent the US dollar and the US financial system. The world is desperate for an alternative to the dollar and China is about to give one to them. This isn’t any cloak and dagger stuff. It’s happening in broad daylight for everyone to see like a slow-moving train wreck. The government is turning your country into a police state, and they’re destroying the value of your currency. These are the real threats to your life and livelihood. Not ISIL. Not al-Qaida. Not Ebola. Ignore the propaganda and see for yourself. Until tomorrow, Simon Black Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com Although this blog from Simon Black finishes with some powerful words, I hope that many of you noted that Simon seems to be oblivious to the forces behind this shifting in the world economy from west to east. I do not know how much the man understands of these matters but for us we must keep the fight inside the bar. In reference to a JC Collins analogy, do not let your opponent reframe the debate and take you away from those things that you hold on to for the adversary is not our president. Stay in the bar (keep your elevated perspective) to hold your fight. We can throw stones at many groups and people (I have a long list of 'characters') but we must always remain elevated and NEVER lose sight of what is truly taking place. The world's economies are in trouble and this is not some grand accident. There are two separate truths in that sentence and I am daily confronted with new information that speaks to the reality each of them. Thru an ongoing process of comparing and contrasting all that I know it is clear that the day of reckoning cannot be put off forever. Tho we have had some good (and seemingly deep) discussions this year, in reality and by design, nearly all that we have discussed has stopped short of the whole. Very rarely have we drawn conclusions from the big picture, macro level. The macro view has become such that I hesitate to speak on these matters. The above words in bold font and underlined are a clue. If you have not gotten some glimpse of what these conclusions might be then you would never accept such analysis anyway! In my experience, forgive the analogy yet again, most people do not want to be fully unplugged from the matrix for fear that their brain would melt! A guideline that I use in L@@King at the world: 1) If you watch TV or other mainstream media for your news it should only be done with a contrarian mindset. If we fail in this we will have misperceptions and these will cause us to totally miss the mark. 2) There is much in the alternate news that is equally misleading. I have attempted to point to this in recent months to draw attention to it as it is a big problem! 3) To survive steps 1 and 2, seek out the truth for yourself. I have been careful to offer many sources to follow. All the 'noise' that is thrown at you will then (over time) become apparent. In time, thru exercise, you will even begin to discern it's stench from a distance! Blessings, Memphis
  7. Bank Of North Dakota: America's Only 'Socialist' Bank Is Thriving During Downturn (VIDEO)(Click on link at bottom of post to go to site to watch video) (AP) The Bank of North Dakota - the nation's only state-owned bank - might seem to be a relic. But now officials in other states are wondering if it is helping North Dakota sail through the national recession. Gubernatorial candidates in Florida and Oregon and a Washington state legislator are advocating the creation of state-owned banks in those states. A report prepared for a Vermont House committee last month said the idea had "considerable merit." Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore promotes the bank on his Web site. "There's a lot of hurt out there, a lot of states that are in trouble, and they're tying the Bank of North Dakota together with this economic success that we're having right now," said the bank's president, Eric Hardmeyer. Hardmeyer says he's gotten "tons" of inquiries about the bank's workings, including questions from officials in California, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Washington state. North Dakota has the nation's lowest unemployment rate at 4.4 percent, soaring oil production and a robust state budget surplus - but Hardmeyer says the bank isn't responsible for the prosperity. "We are a catalyst, perhaps, or maybe a part of it," he said. "To put this at our feet is flattering, but it frankly isn't true." WATCH: Exclusive sneak-peak of a DVD extra from Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story,' on the Bank of North Dakota. The DVD comes out March 9th. (There is another video besides one above - link to Huffington Post at Bottom) The Bank of North Dakota serves as an economic development agency and "banker's bank" that lessens the loan risks of private banks and helps them finance larger projects. It offers cheap loans to farmers, students and businesses. The bank had almost $4 billion in assets and a $2.67 billion loan portfolio at the end of last year, according to its most recent quarterly financial report. It made $58.1 million in profits in 2009, setting a record for the sixth straight year. During the last decade, the bank funneled almost $300 million in profits to North Dakota's treasury. The bank has the advantage of being the repository for most state funds, which can be used for loans and occasional relief for private banks that need a jolt of cash during sluggish credit markets. "We think of ourselves as kind of a little mini-Federal Reserve," Hardmeyer said. The state earns roughly 0.25 percent less interest than state agencies would get from a commercial institution. The bank also pays no state or federal taxes and has no deposit insurance; North Dakota taxpayers are on the hook for any losses. The Bank of North Dakota was a cornerstone of the agenda of the Nonpartisan League, a farmers' political insurgency spawned by anger about outside control of North Dakota's credit and grain markets. Founded in 1915 by A.C. Townley, who became a Socialist Party organizer after he went broke raising flax in western North Dakota, the NPL advocated state-owned banks to provide low-interest farm loans, along with state flour mills, grain elevators, meatpacking houses and hail insurance. Supporters gained control of the legislature and the governorship within five years. The movement's power quickly waned, but two of its state-owned businesses survived - the Bank of North Dakota and a state flour mill and grain elevator in Grand Forks. From the 1940s until the early 1960s, the bank served mostly as a public funds depository and municipal bond buyer, said Rozanne Enerson Junker, author of a 1989 history of the bank. Its economic development activity has greatly expanded since. Gary Petersen, president of the Lakeside State Bank of New Town, a community on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in northwestern North Dakota, said the state bank is often willing to take a stake in local development projects. "In my experience, you make a contact with the (Bank of North Dakota), and their question is, 'How do we get this done?'" Petersen said. "They're not looking at ways to knock it down." Alerus Financial, a Grand Forks bank, has sold about $115 million of its $600 million loan portfolio to the Bank of North Dakota, both to spread its risk and provide itself with additional loan money, said Karl Bollingberg, Alerus' director of banking services. "If you're left to find other participating banks, that can be very challenging," he said. "They don't have the same interest that the Bank of North Dakota has in helping you to do deals." Mauro Guillen, a professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, said it is unlikely other states would open similar banks, in part because "the political culture here is very much against that kind of a thing." Some state and federal agencies, such as the Small Business Administration, already have economic development programs similar to those at the Bank of North Dakota, Guillen said. Bollingberg said the idea of other state-owned banks would also likely rouse opposition from private banks that wanted to keep their share of state deposits. "Because the (Bank of North Dakota) has been here so long, no banks know what it was like to have those deposits," he said. Hardmeyer said he, too, was always doubtful others would take up North Dakota's model, but now he's not so sure. "When I see what's going on around the country, it's not quite as far a leap as I thought it once was," he said. ___ On the Net: Bank of North Dakota: http://www.banknd.nd.gov/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/16/bank-of-north-dakotasocia_n_463522.html
  8. I found the article submitted by Memphis very enlightening and wanted to share -- In light of what our banks have done in the past and some are still doing -- I feel it is wise to "Be Wise" with where we put our money post RV - I like having options - especially "safe" ones - UNEEK Memphis » July 11th, 2013, 12:54 am • Tonight on the CC Bluestar made a reference to the banks and their respective levels of capitalization. Simply put, this is referring to a ratio of how much money does the bank keep on hand (liquidity) vs how much have they committed in various ways such as lending and speculation. The higher the ratio the better any given institution is prepared for a 'rainy day'. The reality is that these are sober times and a 'rainy day' is not just a metaphor, it's a foregone conclusion. Allow me to repeat this: These are sober times and a 'rainy day' is not just a metaphor, it's a foregone conclusion. Our biggest unknown variable is time. If you read my post earlier in the day you will appreciate the gravity of this discussion. In an effort to make this discussion more plain to people here is a recent email that IMO does an excellent job of speaking to this subject. Read it if you have interest and then perhaps follow-up as Bluestar has suggested. :handshake2: NONE of what follows is from me. I try to source news and information from smart people and (IMO) Simon Black fits this description.....well. I am not attempting to promote him here but simply be clear that none of the credit goes to me! On a side note, very soon the RV is going to be "past tense". After the RV? Such discussions as this one will suddenly become reality to all of us. Eagle1 has been doing a great job of pointing and I am simply shining a light here on what he is pointing at! Blessings, Memphis Sovereign Man June 25, 2013 Santiago, Chile At our Offshore Tactics Workshop in Santiago three months ago, Jim Rickards (author of the acclaimed Currency Wars) told the audience of roughly 500 people-- (paraphased) 'If one of you stands up right now and heads for the exit, the rest of the audience probably won't pay much attention. If ten of you do it, one or two people may notice and follow. But if 400 of you suddenly head for the exit, the rest of the audience would probably follow quickly.' It's a great metaphor for how our financial system works. The entire system is based on confidence. And as long as most people maintain this confidence, everything is fine. But as soon as a critical mass of people loses confidence in the system, then it starts a chain reaction. More people start heading for the exit. Which triggers even more people heading for the exit. This is the model right now across the system. And it's especially pervasive in the banking system. Modern banking is based on this ridiculous notion that banks don't actually have to hang on to their customers' funds. Banks in the United States typically hold less than 10%, and even less than 5%, of their customers' savings. This is particularly true among smaller regional banks. As an example, BB&T bank is holding about $3.2 billion in cash equivalents on $131 billion in customer deposits. That's a ratio of just 2.4%. The rest of customer deposits are mostly invested in residential mortgage backed securities (similar to those which collapsed in 2008) and commercial loans. In fact, the bank's loan portfolio exceeds total customer deposits. Not exactly the picture of financial health. In the UK, the situation has become so absurd that British regulators are allowing some banks (Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland) to plug their gaping capital deficits with FUTURE earnings. Now, I'm not trying to badmouth any particular bank here; these examples are representative of the entire western financial system. Yet few people give much thought to where they park their hard-earned savings. We're deluded into believing that our bank is safe. It must be, after all. It's a bank! And... it's backed by the government! Sure, never mind that the balance sheets of insurance funds and sovereign governments are in even worse shape. That this system is still functioning at all is due almost entirely to confidence. There is no fundamental support propping it up. And a system built exclusively on confidence can unravel quickly. This is why it's so important to give a lot of thought to your financial partner. Do they have a fundamentally safe balance sheet? Or is it just smoke and mirrors? Take a look at your own bank's balance sheet. How much cash do they hold as a percentage of deposits? How big is the loan portfolio as a percentage of deposits? How much equity does the bank have as a percentage of deposits? If you're not satisfied, find another bank. And you may have to look overseas at stronger jurisdictions. Singapore is one place where I'm happy to park capital. OCBC for example, holds a whopping 38% of customer deposits in cash equivalents... ten times as much as many banks in the West. Its total loan portfolio is far less than customer deposits. Total equity exceeds assets by a margin of 2:1. And it resides in a nation with effectively no net debt. I'm not necessarily endorsing OCBC, but rather citing it as an example of what a healthy bank balance sheet is supposed to look like. Many banks in Singapore hold similar figures. Bottom line, it matters where you hold your savings. Balance sheet fundamentals are critical. And moving your hard-earned savings to a well-capitalized, highly liquid bank is one of those things that makes sense, no matter what. If nothing happens, you won't be worse off for it. Yet if the confidence game collapses, you'll be one of the few left standing with your savings intact. Until tomorrow, Signature Simon Black Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com
  9. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-01/36-tough-questions-about-us-economy-everyone-should-be-asking 36 Tough Questions About The U.S. Economy That Everyone Should Be Asking Submitted by Tyler Durden on 07/01/2013 18:34 -0400 Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog, If the economy is improving, then why aren't things getting better for most average Americans? They tell us that the unemployment rate is going down, but the percentage of Americans that are actually working is exactly the same it was three years ago. They tell us that American families are in better financial shape now, but real disposable income is falling rapidly. They tell us that inflation is low, but every time we go shopping at the grocery store the prices just seem to keep going up. They tell us that the economic crisis is over, and yet poverty and government dependence continue to explode to unprecedented heights. There seems to be a disconnect between what the government and the media are telling us and what is actually true. With each passing day the debt of the federal government grows larger, the financial world become even more unstable and more American families fall out of the middle class. The same long-term economic trends that have been eating away at our economy like cancer for decades continue to ruthlessly attack the foundations of our economic system. We are rapidly speeding toward an economic cataclysm, and yet the government and most of the media make it sound like happy days are here again. The American people deserve better than this. The American people deserve the truth. The following are 36 hard questions about the U.S. economy that the mainstream media should be asking... #1 If the percentage of working age Americans that have a job is exactly the same as it was three years ago, then why is the government telling us that the "unemployment rate" has gone down significantly during that time? #2 Why are some U.S. companies allowed to exploit disabled workers by paying them as little as 22 cents an hour? #3 Why are some private prisons allowed to pay their prisoners just a dollar a day to do jobs that other Americans could be doing? #4 Why is real disposable income in the United States falling at the fastest rate that we have seen since 2008? #5 Why do 53 percent of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year? #6 Why are wages as a percentage of GDP at an all-time low? #7 Why are 76 percent of all Americans living paycheck to paycheck? #8 Why are so many large corporations issuing negative earnings guidance for this quarter? Does this indicate that the economy is about to experience a significant downturn? #9 Why is job growth at small businesses at about half the level it was at when the year started? #10 Why are central banks selling off record amounts of U.S. debt right now? #11 Why did U.S. mortgage bonds just suffer their biggest quarterly decline in nearly 20 years? #12 Why did we just witness the largest weekly increase in mortgage rates in 26 years? #13 Why has the number of mortgage applications fallen by 29 percent over the last eight weeks? #14 Why has the number of mortgage applications fallen to the lowest level in 19 months? #15 If the U.S. economy is recovering, why is the mortgage delinquency rate in the United States still nearly 10 percent? #16 Why did the student loan delinquency rate in the United States just hit a brand new all-time high? #17 Why is the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars of municipal bonds being postponed? #18 What are the central banks of the world going to do when the 441 trillion dollar interest rate derivatives bubble starts to burst? #19 Why is Barack Obama secretly negotiating a new international free trade agreement that will impose very strict Internet copyright rules on all of us, ban all "Buy American" laws, give Wall Street banks much more freedom to trade risky derivatives and force even more domestic manufacturing offshore? #20 Why don't our politicians seem to care that the United States has run a trade deficit of more than 8 trillion dollars with the rest of the world since 1975? #21 Why doesn't the mainstream media talk about how rapidly the U.S. economy is declining relative to the rest of the planet? According to the World Bank, U.S. GDP accounted for 31.8 percent of all global economic activity in 2001. That number dropped to 21.6 percent in 2011. #22 Why is the percentage of self-employed Americans at a record low? #23 What are we going to do if dust bowl conditions continue to return to the western half of the United States? If the drought continues to get even worse, what will that do to our agriculture? #24 Why is the IRS spending thousands of taxpayer dollars on kazoos, stove top hats, bathtub toy boats and plush animals? #25 Why did the NIH spend $253,800 "to study ways to educate Boston’s male prostitutes on safe-sex practices"? #26 Why do some of the largest charities in America spend less than 5 percent of the money that they bring in on actual charitable work? #27 Now that EU finance ministers have approved a plan that will allow Cyprus-style wealth confiscation as part of all future bank bailouts in Europe, is it only a matter of time before we see something similar in the United States? #28 Why does approximately one out of every three children in the United States live in a home without a father? #29 Why are more than a million public school students in the United States homeless? #30 Why are so many cities all over the United States passing laws that make it illegal to feed the homeless? #31 Why is government dependence in the U.S. at an all-time high if the economy is getting better? Back in 1960, the ratio of social welfare benefits to salaries and wages was approximately 10 percent. In the year 2000, the ratio of social welfare benefits to salaries and wages was approximately 21 percent. Today, the ratio of social welfare benefits to salaries and wages is approximately 35 percent. #32 Why does the number of Americans on food stamps exceed the entire population of the nation of Spain? #33 The number of Americans on food stamps has grown from 32 million to 47 million while Barack Obama has been occupying the White House. So why is Obama paying recruiters to go out and get even more Americans to join the program? #34 Today, there are 56 million Americans collecting Social Security benefits. In 2035, there will be 91 million Americans collecting Social Security benefits. Where in the world will we get the money for that? #35 Why has the value of the U.S. dollar fallen by over 95 percent since the Federal Reserve was created back in 1913? #36 Why has the size of the U.S. national debt gotten more than 5000 times larger since the Federal Reserve was created back in 1913?
  10. http://12160.info/page/citigroup-venturing-into-iraq-gets-approval-for-baghdad-office Citigroup Venturing Into Iraq Gets Approval for Baghdad Office Citigroup Inc. © got Iraqi approval to open an office in Baghdad, as it seeks to become the first U.S. bank to enter a country where fewer than one in five people have an account. Iraq’s central bank gave preliminary consent to set up the representative office, Citigroup, the third-largest U.S. lender, said in an e-mailed statement today. Former diplomat Dennis Flannery, who has run the bank’s Iraqi desk from Amman, Jordan, for two years, will manage the operation. Branches are also planned for Erbil and Basra, it said. “Iraq is an important market, with an economy that has substantial potential over time,” said Jame Cowles, chief executive officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-24/citigroup-venturing-into-iraq-gets-approval-for-baghdad-office.html
  11. http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-06-03/holder-laid-groundwork-%E2%80%9Ctoo-big-jail%E2%80%9D-1999 CLICK ON LINK TO SEE RELATED LINKS EMBEDDED IN ORIGINAL ARTICLE Holder Laid the Groundwork for “Too Big to Jail” In 1999 Submitted by George Washington on 06/03/2013 17:34 -0400 Everyone knows that Eric Holder – the head of the Department of Not-Much Justice – has said that the big banks are too big to jail. And many people know that – prior to becoming the Attorney General – Holder was a partner at a big firm which did some despicable things to represent the big banks and MERS. But Holder’s see-no-evil act actually started more than a decade ago. Specifically, in 1999, as Deputy Attorney General, Holder wrote a memo arguing against prosecuting large financial service companies: Prosecutors may consider the collateral consequences of a corporate criminal conviction in determining whether to charge the corporation with a criminal offense. *** One of the factors in determining whether to charge a natural person or a corporation is whether the likely punishment is appropriate given the nature and seriousness of the crime. In the corporate context, prosecutors may take into account the possibly substantial consequences to a corporation’s officers, directors, employees, and shareholders, many of whom may, depending on the size and nature (e.g., publicly vs. closely held) of the corporation and their role in its operations, have played no role in the criminal conduct, have been completely unaware of it, or have been wholly unable to prevent it. Further, prosecutors should also be aware of non-penal sanctions that may accompany a criminal charges, such as potential suspension or debarment from eligibility for government contracts or federal funded programs such as health care. Whether or not such non-penal sanctions are appropriate or required in a particular case is the responsibility of the relevant agency, a decision that will be made based on the applicable statutes, regulations, and policies. Virtually every conviction of a corporation, like virtually every conviction of an individual, will have an impact on innocent third parties …. Matt Taibbi points out that – when the Department of Justice subsequently prosecuted accounting giant Arthur Andersen for covering up Enron’s fraudulent schemes – Anderson ran with Holder’s argument, and threatened the DOJ “using their employees as human shields”. Specifically, Andersen said that – unless the DOJ dropped the prosecution – innocent Andersen employees would lose their jobs. Andersen was prosecuted and convicted, and some innocent employees – as well as the big time fraudsters – lost their jobs. Since then, the Justice Department has gotten so gun-shy that we basically haven’t had any criminal indictments against a large financial services company since then. In the wake of the recent revelations that the big banks manipulate virtually every market in the world, and that HSBC blatantly laundered drug cartel money, Holder has said that we can’t indict big companies because that might harm the U.S. or world economy. And Matt Taibbi notes that – for the first time - Holder is now saying that not only can’t we indict the companies, but we can’t even indict any of the individual criminals at the companies. In other words, Holder is implementing a permanent shield for employees and executives at large institutions. The Big Banks and Commodities Future Trading Commission Conspired to Hide Speculation from Congress One of our favorite topics is the many ways that big banks manipulate prices. Last night, Rolling Stone financial writer Matt Taibbi gave some very interesting details about how the big banks have gamed commodities prices. For 60 to 70 years, the regulations preventing speculators from betting on commodities worked pretty well. Only commodity producers or buyers – you know, the people who are supposed set prices – could hedge their bets. But in the early 1990s, the big financial companies starting applying to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for “exemptions” … so that they could speculate on commodities. Specifically, they asked to be artificially treated as real commodity producers or consumers – even though they weren’t producing or buying commodities – so that they could “hedge” bets (in name only) on products they didn’t even possess. (Sound familiar?) In 1991, the CFTC issuing exemption letters. The first letter was written to J. Aron, a subsidiary of … Goldman Sachs. Pretty soon, every major bank in the U.S. was given an exemption. Congress didn’t know about the exemptions. Indeed, the House Agricultural Commission – which oversees the CFTC – didn’t even find out about the exemptions until 6 years later … in 1997. When a congressman on the Agricultural Commission asked the CFTC for a sample of one of the exemption letters, the CFTC official said he had to ask Goldman Sachs whether or not the CFTC could show a copy to Congress. In other words, the banks were already running D.C. by the 90s. Commodities speculation has exploded since the exemption letters were issues. For example, in 2003, there was only $29 billion in speculative activity in the commodities markets. By 2007-2008, there was over $300 billion in commodities speculation. Icelandic Parliament: Big Icelandic Banks Were Public Banks … Which Were Privatized FOR FREE Shortly Before They Tanked Birgitta Jonsdottir is a member of the Icelandic parliament. She knows a good deal about the financial crisis. Indeed, before being elected to parliament, she made a documentary about the collapse of Iceland’s economy as an investigative journalist. Last night, Jonsdottir (pronounced “yont-Daughter”) disclosed a stunning fact in a speech I attended: All our banks were actually public. They were privatized a few years prior to the financial crisis. Jonsdottir explained that Iceland’s banks grew to 5-7 times the size of the country’s GDP during the county’s brief bubble after privatization. And the Icelandic parliament – in a fact-finding report – later found that the bankers never paid anything to “buy” the banks from the government or the people. In other words, sweetheart deals and corruption meant that a handful of people looted the banks without paying a penny. America is analogous. The prosperity which our ancestors worked so hard to build – and the very vision of prosperity of the Founding Fathers – has been looted. Jonsdottir says that it wasn’t just the bankers who were corrupt … it was also the Icelandic politicians, media, academia … all of the people in a position of power. She points out that - as bad as things are in America - they were as bad in Iceland. And yet they took the bulls by the horn and turned things around
  12. World Bank Insider Blows Whistle on Corruption, Federal Reserve Wednesday, 22 May 2013 A former insider at the World Bank, ex-Senior Counsel Karen Hudes, says the global financial system is dominated by a small group of corrupt, power-hungry figures centered around the privately owned U.S. Federal Reserve. The network has seized control of the media to cover up its crimes, too, she explained. In an interview with The New American, Hudes said that when she tried to blow the whistle on multiple problems at the World Bank, she was fired for her efforts. Now, along with a network of fellow whistleblowers, Hudes is determined to expose and end the corruption. And she is confident of success. Citing an explosive 2011 Swiss study published in the PLOS ONE journal on the “network of global corporate control,” Hudes pointed out that a small group of entities — mostly financial institutions and especially central banks — exert a massive amount of influence over the international economy from behind the scenes. “What is really going on is that the world’s resources are being dominated by this group,” she explained, adding that the “corrupt power grabbers” have managed to dominate the media as well. “They’re being allowed to do it.” According to the peer-reviewed paper, which presented the first global investigation of ownership architecture in the international economy, transnational corporations form a “giant bow-tie structure.” A large portion of control, meanwhile, “flows to a small tightly-knit core of financial institutions.” The researchers described the core as an “economic ‘super-entity’” that raises important issues for policymakers and researchers. Of course, the implications are enormous for citizens as well. Hudes, an attorney who spent some two decades working in the World Bank’s legal department, has observed the machinations of the network up close. “I realized we were now dealing with something known as state capture, which is where the institutions of government are co-opted by the group that’s corrupt,” she told The New American in a phone interview. “The pillars of the U.S. government — some of them — are dysfunctional because of state capture; this is a big story, this is a big cover up.” At the heart of the network, Hudes said, are 147 financial institutions and central banks — especially the Federal Reserve, which was created by Congress but is owned by essentially a cartel of private banks. “This is a story about how the international financial system was secretly gamed, mostly by central banks — they’re the ones we are talking about,” she explained. “The central bankers have been gaming the system. I would say that this is a power grab.” The Fed in particular is at the very center of the network and the coverup, Hudes continued, citing a policy and oversight body that includes top government and Fed officials. Central bankers have also been manipulating gold prices, she added, echoing widespread concerns that The New American has documented extensively. Indeed, even the inaccurate World Bank financial statements that Hudes has been trying to expose are linked to the U.S. central bank, she said. “The group that we’re talking about from the Zurich study — that’s the Federal Reserve; it has some other pieces to it, but that’s the Federal Reserve,” Hudes explained. “So the Federal Reserve secretly dominated the world economy using secret, interlocking corporate directorates, and terrorizing anybody who managed to figure out that they were having any kind of role, and putting people in very important positions so that they could get a free pass.” The shadowy but immensely powerful Bank for International Settlements serves as “the club of these private central bankers,” Hudes continued. “Now, are people going to want interest on their country’s debts to continue to be paid to that group when they find out the secret tricks that that group has been doing? Don’t forget how they’ve enriched themselves extraordinarily and how they’ve taken taxpayer money for the bailout.” As far as intervening in the gold price, Hudes said it was an effort by the powerful network and its central banks to “hold onto its paper currency” — a suspicion shared by many analysts and even senior government officials. The World Bank whistleblower also said that contrary to official claims, she did not believe there was any gold being held in Fort Knox. Even congressmen and foreign governments have tried to find out if the precious metals were still there, but they met with little success. Hudes, however, believes the scam will eventually come undone. “This is like crooks trying to figure out where they can go hide. It’s a mafia,” she said. “These culprits that have grabbed all this economic power have succeeded in infiltrating both sides of the issue, so you will find people who are supposedly trying to fight corruption who are just there to spread disinformation and as a placeholder to trip up anybody who manages to get their act together.… Those thugs think that if they can keep the world ignorant, they can bleed it longer.” Of course, the major corruption at the highest levels of government and business is not a new phenomenon. Georgetown University historian and Professor Carroll Quigley, who served as President Bill Clinton’s mentor, for example, wrote about the scheme in his 1966 book Tragedy And Hope: A History Of The World In Our Time. The heavyweight academic, who was allowed to review documents belonging to the top echelons of the global establishment, even explained how the corrupt system would work — remarkably similar to what Hudes describes. "The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole,” wrote Prof. Quigley, who agreed with the goals but not the secrecy. “This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert by secret agreements arrived at in frequent private meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations." But it is not going to happen, Hudes said — at least not if she has something do to with it. While the media are dominated by the “power grabber” network, Hudes has been working with foreign governments, reporters, U.S. officials, state governments, and a broad coalition of fellow whistleblowers to blow the entire scam wide open. There has been quite a bit of interest, too, particularly among foreign governments and state officials in the United States. Citing the wisdom of America’s Founding Fathers in creating a federal system of government with multiple layers of checks and balances, Hudes said she was confident that the network would eventually be exposed and subjected to the rule of law, stopping the secret corruption. If and when that happens — even if it may be disorderly — Hudes says precious metals will once again play a role in imposing discipline on the monetary system. The rule of law would also be restored, she said, and the public will demand a proper press to stay informed. “We’re going to have a cleaned-up financial system, that’s where it is going, but in the meantime, people who didn’t know how the system was gamed are going to find out,” she said. “We’re going to have a different kind of international financial system.... It’ll be a new kind of world where people know what’s going on — no more backroom deals; that’s not going to keep happening. We’re going to have a different kind of media if people don’t want to be dominated and controlled, which I don’t think they do.” While Hudes sounded upbeat, she recognizes that the world is facing serious danger right now — there are even plans in place to impose martial law in the United States, she said. The next steps will be critical for humanity. As such, Hudes argues, it is crucial that the people of the world find out about the lawlessness, corruption, and thievery that are going on at the highest levels — and put a stop to it once and for all. The consequences of inaction would be disastrous. http://www.thenewamerican.com/economy/economics/item/15473-world-bank-insider-blows-whistle-on-corruption-federal-reserve?utm_source=feedly
  13. This is a little old but didn't see it on the boards....... Created on Monday, 04 February / February 2013 10:49 Interviewed by: Ammar Menem - Zuhair al-Fatlawi The head of the Rasheed Bank Kazem fistula that Rasheed Bank has achieved the quality of mutations at the local, Arab and achieved an increase in profits and deposit ratios In the past year up to 30% also achieved an increase in credit extended by 29%, despite all the obstacles. He noted That the bank will be celebrated this year's silver jubilee and there will be a celebratory get for the first time because of the Rasheed Bank ranked (51) among Arab banks also said fistula that the loans and projects offered by the good road will contribute to the support of sectors of development, employment and reduce unemployment and filling the needs of groups downtrodden and widows And vocational sector bank will also support large-scale housing projects and investment projects and the mixed sector companies. · You talked about the Islamic window loans who put موخرا in the media? - You know that Rasheed Bank opened a window Islamist exercise to work according to Islamic law, and where something different from the loans, which are on commercial terms, and among these differences, the ceiling for lending for commercial purposes, no more than 50 million dinars, ie a hundred salary, while in Islamic banking There is no such selection, the loan may reach to 200 million dinars, And that sales are Immediately without a grace period, as is the case in commercial lending, and that the borrower بالصيرفة Islamic be has the potential to actually pay premiums capacity higher than the employee's ability regular who shall make payment on according to commercial banking, so the ceiling available for lending بالصيرفة Islamic maximum is (200) million, and there is no reservation on Advanced, but includes all citizens, whether employees or gaining or factor we have started to receive applications and is very close to call Lending directly, in a period not to exceed the first week of next month. Do you have a specific amount made ​​for the window? - Islamic window was founded in the Rasheed Bank with a capital of 25 billion dinars, a little amount is not enough of the need for capital is completely isolated from commercial banking , While commercial banking trillions of dinars granted for lending for housing purposes, so we asked the Finance Ministry to intervene in order to raise capital by reference to the competent authorities, and did not get it yet. · That there was a profit through Islamic banking, will be added to the bank or is it that there is a mechanism of its own? - There are instructions from the Iraqi Central Bank governing work in pure Islamic, there is also the legitimacy of the bank's look at the transaction, subject accounting which to the general system of accounting, and extract profits at the end of the year and recorded in the profit college, as one of the hands of the Rasheed Bank is the window of Islamic , a state-owned And the public sector, and ownership in general and his money in general, and the law of the collection of government debt applies to the bank, as public funds, it is transmitting profits at the end of the budget after the complete budget window Islamic and balancing business, Vidmj profits and gives quotas to the Ministry of Finance as determined by the law and keeps the rest for the purposes of expansion and management of the different processes needed by the bank. · What is the ratio of benefits or Morabaha? - No interest rate in Islamic banking, but is the process of Murabaha and post, no values ​​imposed by the buying and selling and subject to the agreement of the parties by mutual consent and there is no where as in business Regular commercial banks, they are in fact now up to 10% - 8% per annum The passage of time will be devalued with increasing premiums for which payment may be up to 15 years instead of 10 years. It is less of business profits, And we are God's help, we have completed our preparations in terms of training and capital, accounting and administrators and the Shariah and took our stage instructions and controls work and we have given approval for the number of housing projects collective supposed it would be more useful to citizens registered as cities integrated services, and the waiting period is not long, where the possibility of Family moving to a new home over a period of six months or nine months without search of land and construction company as it happens in the present time, where he presented the bank and through the window of Islamic number of projects in accordance with Islamic finance is continuing on this subject in the course of this year in projects, but capital is still small and there are plans to increase the sources of funds including Islamic window allows enabling them to give the largest ceilings and the inclusion of the largest number of requests. · Is there a specification in Advanced Kalratb person? - There are no specifications in the developed person, it's different for Islamic banking, for example, the $ 200 million is divided on the (10) years to come, no monthly premium would be less than a million, with interest. · You announced that you have services ستقدمونها through this year, what are these services? - We included the staff of the mixed sector advances of $ (3) million, was awarded to quite a few of them and still continuing, and the second project is a project by the Rasheed Bank to finance the needs of the productive for women widows and this is a subject in which the objectives of social as well as economic goals, and the aim is to assign the bank for this Ladies and their families in order employed in workshops or laboratories productivity and shops simple, ie, that Ms. exercised pursuant through which you can sell excess production to the local market, and try to Nadim project down, one of the conditions that combine nature of the work chosen and capabilities, ie if they have a university degree or a professional in the doors of professional work كالتطريز or other things that تجيدها lady in different processes, and this needs to be some coordination with organizations that sponsor this aspect with a view to propose a number of business and the development of values ​​to them, for example, buy a plant simple Lajh cotton in order to operate it cushions, mattresses and other through a small shop, or in the Shop Manual carpets, and so on .. These projects extract total value, فالمصرف gives advance to Mrs. value of this project is low-interest, so that the lower prices in the banking market of Iraq, and this is our project, which will be introducing the Ministry of Finance in order to take approvals do, and we work this year, in addition to the development of small and medium enterprises which is one of the concerns of the United Nations and the bank already And practiced during the past three years and has benefited thousands of citizens in different governorates of Iraq, and some of them during the last two years, the expansion of this lending became its potentials to borrow larger amounts on commercial terms, we may هيأنا roof between (2-20) million for this purpose without the need to provide a guarantee real estate in order to make it easier for the owner of the shop or lab small to exert his work without having to make a drug, has اشترطنا the entrepreneur with the (10) or (20) million to be with him worker or workers and their salary throughout the year, In other words we've run a family or two families in this project small, we ماضين expand it and increase the ceilings and gradually changing work patterns gradually whenever the need arose economic to the type of work, that was, service or productive, and therefore have our bank has helped run the manpower on hand, take out products to the domestic market may have a competitive market with goods and services that comes from abroad, and have been built for potential customers to grow year after year, in order to be able to get more money and enter into employment contracts and projects bigger than the other thing. · Other services, such as cars? - We are continuing this aspect, has been the Rasheed Bank launched an initiative for the first time to replace old cars and tired and went out a long time and the problems, a new one, and actually has been replaced many cars and preferred initially public transport vehicles in excess of 12 passengers, such as Coaster Cars and works on the lines of passenger transport, the aim of this initiative is to create a good environment and a comfortable car and good for travelers because it is worth it, the fact that the country one of the richest countries in the world, and this initiative is available to all provincial councils in all of Iraq, and we have a wide range of types of cars, including tutoring Taxi and productive, and we added him all the mechanisms involved in the construction and development, funding فنستطيع Contractor equipment and vehicles, and we can finance well as peasant mechanisms necessary for its work and in installments. · What is the amount allocated to these projects? - The amount allocated by the Rasheed Bank for these projects ranges between (17 - 40) million, and if the values ​​of top equipment, the owner of the loan Adds them of his own money. · But there are projects announced by Direct has them, but the funds allocated to them have been implemented? - For an advance percent salary that is less advance (30) million, multiply it by 4 million Iraqi employees, then we need to budget for Iraq, in addition to the budgets of a number of other countries, has The calculations assume that 30% of state employees do not have homes, and these larger hypothesis we have, but it turns out that everyone does not have the housing and all competing to get the loan, and a large portion of them got the loan without the need of him, and another department did not provide support property stipulated in the loan, so it is in order to protect public money and in order to not go money to consumption rather than building as they are monitored and OK in the decisions of the bank and the approval of the Ministry of Finance, forcing the bank to modify the instructions and decisions including emphasizes the use of the amount for the purpose of housing, including confirms that the borrower is really needy and not a yuppie, we say that these few liquid funds in general, a bank and the money is not the public treasury funds. · What are the reasons for the delay in lending? - Our plans for the current year is different from the previous year, in the current year we get projects, many of financing, before the weeks we've funded the largest housing project in Iraq, which is a project بسماية, where he helped the Rasheed Bank's share of not less than 400 billion dinars, equivalent to 10% of the cost of the project, and has the additional amounts other during the progress of the work, and have contributed to the large-scale projects in other country, such as the Ministry of Finance who needs a trillion dinars, and the draft Ministries and other departments in the various provinces, where we have funded and pledge to do so and at a cost of tens of billions or even hundreds of billions , and therefore funding will go to the projects of public interest organization in which services, such as housing services, transport and communications and networking, education, health, roads, water, Instead of to give the borrower money this dispersion and the borrower is exposed in a period of grace that we have identified six months, to the many cases of tunnels have it, for non-housing purposes, and when the six-month deadline, when he can not will purchase and can not refund the amount. · Do Advance Exist now or not? - Advance Now at the stage of amendments and we try to keep this activity continues, but must we identify in order to achieve his goals, plugging these gaps, and the gaps that emerged, including the lack of Sindh, and the gap commentators and the amounts to be paid here and there is an error, and unlike the instructions and laws, and a loophole that beneficiaries who are not needy , and these gaps are trying to fill them with instructions سنضعها in the current year, and it is important that we continue this activity as part of the work that practiced by the Rasheed Bank and continue in a part of its budget each year geared to the construction sector and housing, but each year it controls in terms of the interest rate, duration, and aggregate amounts and ceilings college. · To any ministry doling out loans? - We give loans to (12) and the Ministry of continuity and when we enter at the end of each year, everything will depend, in financial institutions, budgets and audits, auditing, and then placed the opening balances and decide the amounts according to needs. · For housing loans, the House of Representatives said that we raised interest rates for housing loans, but Rasheed Bank continuously benefit? - Rasheed Bank Bank is not due to the authority of parliament, he is a commercial bank and works with funds of depositors, who open savings accounts or deposit and take the benefits of it, Rafidain and Rasheed banks independent operating in the market with funds of depositors, they are not safe in general, part of the profits go to the public treasury But owned by public institutions at the end of the Iraqi state, but its associated business rules, even if there was such a hypothesis would have been the closure of banks, because depositors withdraw their money, and then run dry of resources from banks. · The central bank to reduce the interest rate demanded reduction is financed from the general budget? - This is another topic, but it is important that the cost banking prescribed benefit must be collected by the bank, either from the borrower or from the public treasury, the important collection of cost, in order to pay interest to depositors profits 4 or 5% and the remainder from the sidelines pays its staff salaries and rent buildings. · What percentage of the profits earned for the year 2012? - Profits increased by tens of Dilution from the previous year, and also the deposits that have been achieved are more than previously estimated 30% of the market, ie the total deposits in the past year we have achieved an increase from the previous year by 30% and this is a significant proportion in the banking business, then we have achieved an increase in credit granted بمماثلة almost about 29%, which was pumped additional credit in the market and our main economic sectors, service and productivity of the public sector and the mixed and special in all parts of Iraq, and this work is not easy, and we thank God, despite the difficult circumstances that surround us and the employees and takes بفروعنا and electricity problems and the problems of fuel as you know , and we have achieved productivity proud and this year we celebrate the silver jubilee of the Rasheed Bank and will be your newspaper metropolis in November and there will be a celebratory get debut Foundation Iraqi known have a reputation of Arab and international and now Rasheed Bank occupies a reservation is unacceptable for us, however, is ranked (51) in Arab banks, and this year after he graduated indicators will rise in rank and will advance more and more, is planned to be the Rasheed Bank in a rich country like Iraq, has a wealth of important and big, and when the people need and spender in all areas of spending in an environment where a large investment will reach Rasheed Bank size work to the mattress first among Arab countries, which is in fact achieved two years ago, gives loans to individual project more than five (5) million, and this does not exist in any Arab bank, Arab Bank now does not give the project an individual to a person more than a million dollars, and Rasheed Bank able to give (5) million, in the past year rose to 20 million for the project individually, either group projects owned by large companies It gives tens of millions in this section, and the intention is to support and assign development plans according to its law and rules of procedure and operation of his money operation Hassan for the public benefit and asks guarantees strong to ensure the collection of his money in entitlement, even loans for housing for state employees, there to ensure personal addition to the support of the property, and the guarantee of insurance, but this is not required for the bank, but required that the borrower already has bought property to house his family and achieve the goal of Therefore, the bank otherwise be forced to change the style of the way to ensure that lending to achieve these goals, God willing. · You announced for the bank to open a branch in particular journalists and provide Loans for journalists? - We are involved procedures, Press Association and the Union of journalists and trade unions and unions Enterprise Law, which is represented by a single person in Iraq and has branches in the provinces, Hmlnaha all banking services, where we have given housing loans and loans to small businesses to set up offices of the accountant office and press information office, and the doctor office. · There is a tendency for the establishment of the Association of Iraqi banks and there is an intention to belong to the Association of Arab Banks, what will it add you to the this association? - Yes, there is a tendency to collect all the banks in the Commonwealth of one, and we would withdraw from the public sector, Because we occupy 90% of the area of the banking business in Iraq, we are leading in the arena and give a lot of our time to other organizations, we do not need this association, but we have good in Iraq, the Association coordinate the work of the banking system and progress Consulting And attend some meetings which belong to the private sector and also Nklvha the publishing and literature assignments in Iraq banking for its development, and the principle of Make it the Society for the introduction of public banks Exists, but I think needs time and generally Iraqi banks represented by the Union of Arab Banks, the speaker is the representative of the Iraqi banks in the Union and member of the Board of Directors of the Union and many of the services of international and Arab get it through the European Union and share with him in most of the conferences outside of Iraq, and the delegation of the Iraqi banking is the biggest delegations Arab has become now that the number of Iraqi banks to more than 45 bank and institution marker control and that's good, but establishing an association is useful, no doubt, be united, we may Astadhana by Coordination Committee banking in previous years, said a committee at the CBI headed by employee large, and where the members of each of the banking system manager or assistant commissioner, and consider a number of banking issues that arise in international and give an advisory opinion for the banks, the department works and the other sees the extent to which its decision with the orientations of which are useful. · What is the sequence Iraqi banks Other Kalravedan, the TBI and TBI In the Arab rating? - TBI Was accepted in the sequence on the basis that the bank's capital TBI Is more than our capital, of course, but work and the total budget for our biggest, and Mesopotamia did not appear sequencing Unfortunately say while Iraq is one of the top ten and was one of a hundred bank in the world, God willing, will restore his strength as a bank heritage in the country, which was founded in 1941 and opened the first branch in Beirut in 1947 and then in London and was followed in Cairo, Jordan, Yemen and other countries. · Do you have to your bank branches in the states? We strive to find our branches in a number of important countries with Iraq, or at least buy stakes in banks there to Nstmiha the list to promote and deal with the Iraqi banking transactions. * Mixed-sector companies are suffering from scarcity of financial resources, the need to loans And restore activity. How do you support? - I had a treatment belonging to the mixed sector to Al-Hilal that need a large loan from the bank, and we do not have mind if I got the necessary approvals as the sector was mixed and provide adequate safeguards, because the bank to the public sector, and kindly snapped money, and there must be economically feasible to develop These funds are in place. · What about the torn currency? - Central Bank replaces constantly currency damaged by the banks we use the money misused, where we put in the pocket Abanntron (الكابوي), which leads to tearing, or put them in places that are not safe and Ntdolha fist down and supposed to use the card and we are still behind in this section for conditions known And a lot of traders do not accept the deal cards and electronic payment, but they want alive and they see with their own eyes, this evolution has objective reasons we can not change easily, and Western countries, replaced by cash card, while we so far did not use instruments and do not accept them, but be Cash (cash ), Venanaj to awareness banker.
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