Iraq’s biggest bank reaches telling milestone

Iraq’s national museum was not the only institution to be devastated by looters during the 2003 US-led invasion. But, among all the other cases, the ransacking of the country’s banks has had arguably the most profound impact on the post-war economy.

The banking sector is still struggling to overcome its past as a pillar of Iraq’s command economy, the legacy of the war and the preceding years of sanctions, international isolation and neglect.

Rafidain, a state bank and by far the country’s biggest, recently reached a milestone when it opened its first automated and inter-connected branch in Iraq – in Baghdad. While better equipped private banks have made inroads in Iraq in recent years, the impact of the modernisation of Rafidain on ordinary Iraqis is likely to be huge.