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Iraq’s Dinar: Still Stuck in the Wild West of Currencies


Kajun
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http://dinarvets.com/forums/index.php?app=forums&module=post&section=post&do=new_post&f=6

While most investors realize Iraq is still a dangerous place to travel to, they may not fully grasp the financial risks tied to trading in the nation’s currency, the dinar.

Worried about the dinar’s illiquidity, the threat of currency fraud and still-unstable situation in Iraq, Wells Fargo (WFC) issued a warning this week urging investors to steer clear of the currency.

“Considering that Iraq remains a dangerous place with an uncertain future, we strongly advise investors against taking the risk of buying Iraqi dinar as an investment,” Paul Christopher, chief international investment strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors, wrote in a note in response to investor curiosity about the currency.

Introduced as Iraq’s new currency in 2004 after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the dinar, which recently traded at about 1,165 dinar per U.S. dollar, is still only available in paper form because most U.S. banks decline to deal it.

That means the dinar is still very much a part of the Wild West of the currency world, an area most investors should probably avoid funneling money to.

Yet investors are clearly curious about the dinar, largely because of yet-to-be-realized hopes that the Iraqi Central Bank will revalue the currency by resetting its exchange rate at a more favorable value. They point to similar economic rebounds and currency revaluations in West Germany after World War II and in Kuwait after Saddam’s 1991 invasion.

Yet Christopher spells out four main risks to buying into the dinar now: the threat of future violence in Iraq, illiquidity, risk of fraud and historical precedent.

While Iraq has clearly made great political strides in recent years, the political unity between Iraq's three competing ethnic groups remains extremely fragile. Plus, foreign influence, especially from that of Iran, threatens to further inflame political tensions.

“Iraq’s post-war experience shows much stronger ethnic divisions than was the case in Germany or Kuwait, prior to their currency revaluation,” Christopher wrote. “While the economy grapples with violence, the prospect of a currency revaluation seems remote.”

But even if the political and violence situations didn’t cast a pall over the dinar, the illiquid nature of the currency makes investment impractical.

Because few of the world’s banks outside the Middle East work with Iraqi banks, most investors are forced to buy actual physical dinar banknotes (rather than the electronic form of the currency like a euro investor would). Dealers in banknotes charge customers for the cost of shipping, handling and buying/selling the dinar in a wholesale market, Christopher said.

“The costs for buying or selling the dinar may absorb most or even all of an investor’s return,” Christopher said.

Without any banks to work with, investors in the Iraqi dinar are often forced to work with Internet trading companies and potentially shady dinar dealers that aren’t closely regulated by the U.S. government. That leaves investors open to the risk of fraud.

Christopher pointed to the fact that the Iraqi dinar trade ranked No. 6 on the Utah Department of Commerce’s list of top 10 frauds of 2006.

“We suggest many [currency] recommendations that we believe have much less liquidity, fraud and principal risk,” Christopher said.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2012/02/22/iraqs-dinar-still-stuck-in-wild-west-currencies/#ixzz22veeAH2m

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http://dinarvets.com/forums/index.php?app=forums&module=post&section=post&do=new_post&f=6

blah, blah, blah ...

Introduced as Iraq’s new currency in 2004 after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the dinar, which recently traded at about 1,165 dinar per U.S. dollar, is still only available in paper form because most U.S. banks decline to deal it.

....

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2012/02/22/iraqs-dinar-still-stuck-in-wild-west-currencies/#ixzz22veeAH2m

Sorry there Sparky ... but I would much rather be holding the "paper form" ... and "U.S. banks decline to deal" with it because it hasn't been reinstated as an international currency YET - NOT because it's some kind of scam !!!

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I know this is an unpopular press release from Wells Fargo.

The banks sold Dinar, just as they would sell any other Foreign currency as a service to their customers who were traveling abroad.

They would also buy it back upon the customer's return.

When the banking system finally realized it was being bought for speculation, they shut off the spigots to protect themselves from possible litigation.

They have some requirements and limitations, and I am not sure they are allowed to be both a bank and a currency brokerage facility. It is the equivalent of selling futures. I don't think they are encouraged to enter into that market.

Wells Fargo wasn't the first, and won't be the last to adopt this, or a similar policy.

One thing a Banker understands is how to make the most money while losing the least. They will walk away from any deal they feel will negatively affect the bottom line (and be discovered while they are at the helm).

Nothing new here. It is a high risk speculation; they don't have the stones to ride it out....

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Thanks Kajun,

We saw this article come out in February

Matt Egan's title is senior reporter at Fox Business Network .

These articles seem to come back to life time and time again.

We all know the story. Time will tell.

Evened you out as you are just trying to contribute

Go Shabs.

Edited by SocalDinar
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Why have some had up to, and over 3x the gains, from holding Dinars long-term, while everything for the most part in the U.S. has TANKED?...When they can answer this one we may listen to them and heed their warning, but the PROOF is in the pudding!...On another note, the Dinar's final bell has'nt been rung as per the FINALITY of this thing, so why warn some of us, because we have already made better gains from this than most of the stuff that the media and so-called expert financial guru's of the estlabishment played up, as always being good, rock-solid, bullet-proof, etc., etc., etc...while most of it TANKED!..I think that many of us will keep taking the OPPOSITE advice!...LOL...

P.S. IF IT TANKS AS PER THE DINAR, THEN SO BE IT, AS WILL PROBABLY EVERYTHING ELSE...AS AT LEAST WE ARE BETTING ON THE WINNING HORSE...(AS AT LEAST WE KNOW IRAQ HAS OIL, GOLD, ETC..."B A C K I N G")..WHAT HAS THE U.S. GOT?..WHO IS WARNING US ABOUT IT?...WHY ARE THEY NOT DOING SO?..WHY WORRY OVER SOMETHING THAT HAS'NT MATERIALIZED YET, BUT HAS HAD A GOOD LONG TERM PATTERN SO FAR?...THIS IS SIMPLY RETARDED..OR AT LEAST UNTIL IT IS OVER!!!

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Bottom line..........

my investment in Dinar will pay out sooner and better than my investment as a high income tax payer will in General Motors.

I don't mind the article though, if gives balance to the pumpers who have been mis-leading innocent uneducated people for years now.

If this article keeps a person from buying dinar instead of paying thier house payment, then I'm all in.

there are many desperate folks out there that are looking for a home run grand slam in the bottom of the ninth to win the game with the dinar.

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Every bank in the US will buy your dinars but they will not sell them to you. My question is why would a bank buy worthless cash? You know why?

There is not a bank in this city, local or national, that will buy Iraqi Dinars. That statement is absolutely false.

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http://dinarvets.com/forums/index.php?app=forums&module=post&section=post&do=new_post&f=6

While most investors realize Iraq is still a dangerous place to travel to, they may not fully grasp the financial risks tied to trading in the nation’s currency, the dinar.

Worried about the dinar’s illiquidity, the threat of currency fraud and still-unstable situation in Iraq, Wells Fargo (WFC) issued a warning this week urging investors to steer clear of the currency.

“Considering that Iraq remains a dangerous place with an uncertain future, we strongly advise investors against taking the risk of buying Iraqi dinar as an investment,” Paul Christopher, chief international investment strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors, wrote in a note in response to investor curiosity about the currency.

Introduced as Iraq’s new currency in 2004 after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the dinar, which recently traded at about 1,165 dinar per U.S. dollar, is still only available in paper form because most U.S. banks decline to deal it.

That means the dinar is still very much a part of the Wild West of the currency world, an area most investors should probably avoid funneling money to.

Yet investors are clearly curious about the dinar, largely because of yet-to-be-realized hopes that the Iraqi Central Bank will revalue the currency by resetting its exchange rate at a more favorable value. They point to similar economic rebounds and currency revaluations in West Germany after World War II and in Kuwait after Saddam’s 1991 invasion.

Yet Christopher spells out four main risks to buying into the dinar now: the threat of future violence in Iraq, illiquidity, risk of fraud and historical precedent.

While Iraq has clearly made great political strides in recent years, the political unity between Iraq's three competing ethnic groups remains extremely fragile. Plus, foreign influence, especially from that of Iran, threatens to further inflame political tensions.

“Iraq’s post-war experience shows much stronger ethnic divisions than was the case in Germany or Kuwait, prior to their currency revaluation,” Christopher wrote. “While the economy grapples with violence, the prospect of a currency revaluation seems remote.”

But even if the political and violence situations didn’t cast a pall over the dinar, the illiquid nature of the currency makes investment impractical.

Because few of the world’s banks outside the Middle East work with Iraqi banks, most investors are forced to buy actual physical dinar banknotes (rather than the electronic form of the currency like a euro investor would). Dealers in banknotes charge customers for the cost of shipping, handling and buying/selling the dinar in a wholesale market, Christopher said.

“The costs for buying or selling the dinar may absorb most or even all of an investor’s return,” Christopher said.

Without any banks to work with, investors in the Iraqi dinar are often forced to work with Internet trading companies and potentially shady dinar dealers that aren’t closely regulated by the U.S. government. That leaves investors open to the risk of fraud.

Christopher pointed to the fact that the Iraqi dinar trade ranked No. 6 on the Utah Department of Commerce’s list of top 10 frauds of 2006.

“We suggest many [currency] recommendations that we believe have much less liquidity, fraud and principal risk,” Christopher said.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2012/02/22/iraqs-dinar-still-stuck-in-wild-west-currencies/#ixzz22veeAH2m

J]ust to make things clear I have been holding Dinar for more than 7 years. I am more than ready for the RV. I saw the article and thought it would be of interest.

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